Nasdaq has become the latest US stock exchange to follow in the footsteps of its upstart rival IEX Group with a plan to hit the brakes on ultrafast electronic trading.

A proposal unveiled by the New York-based exchange giant on Wednesday would encourage investors to post buy and sell orders on the Nasdaq Stock Market that last at least one second-eons in today's markets, where high-frequency trading firms enter and cancel thousands of orders in fractions of a second.