The Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc. announced it has received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for rules associated with the launch of its planned equity and index options market.

The Nasdaq Options Market is Nasdaq OMX’s new electronic option trading offering which will operate on a price/time priority model. It will also provide a routing service to orders when trading is not present on the Nasdaq Options Market. It is scheduled to open for business on March 31.

“This is a welcome development which will allow Nasdaq OMX to pursue its organic options market strategy. We will bring customer choice via our price/time model to options trading in a penny environment,” said Chris Concannon, executive vice president, Nasdaq Transaction Services. “This market will complement our planned acquisition of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.”