Decimal Stock Pricing Fact Sheet Fractional trading increments have descended from the Spanish dollar, which was coined in pieces of eight, a currency commonly in use in this country over two centuries ago. Securities trading is the only sector of the U.S. economy that does not use dollars and cents. The United States remains the only major industrialized nation to trade in fractions, not decimals. To know exactly how much they paid or received for the purchase or sale of a stock, investors must calculate eighths or sixteenths.
Fractional increments keep inhibit competition and keep spreads artificially high.
Congressman Oxley led the decimal pricing effort by introducing the Common Cents Stock Pricing Act with Rep. Edward Markey in 1997. The bill was passed by the Finance Subcommittee, and the industry made its original commitment to decimal conversion shortly thereafter.