He looked like a real slimeball on K&C , didn't he? Now he's the NASDAQ biggest cheerleader? Anything to hurt ARCA I guess. I don't see why NASDAQ should have the ability to shut down other exchanges or break trades on other exchanges or ecn's. Their SRO status applies to their own business and trading on the nasdaq system, not the entire world. Cramer has been ranting about this and rightly so, but he is mssing a crucial issue. It is not a matter of specialist versus all electronic systems. It is how the systems are run. The specialist system is history. But we need to focus on the mechanism for these halts and exactly what must happen to (1) halt trading, (2) restart trading and (3) bust trades. Now it is decided in a back room by people with huge conflicts. That is not acceptable, whether it is CME or NASDAQ.
You're the last person I would expect to be blaming the mythical they. You don't think some CME members last spring didn't get caught with busted long ES trades that they spread off on the lows in SP? These futures busts are a different animal than COCO's mess last week. Cascading stops is endemic to an electronic matching system that almost always has more stops working away from the market than accompanying "protective" limit orders. I agree that those who step in and take the risk to stabilize free falling markets should not be penalized. And you're right, on the "big one" it may be like the little boy who cried wolf. What if nobody buys. However how do you tell John Q. Public that his ES stop 10pts away was filled 40 lower and that the market is now unchanged, while no other instrument even moved! Very touchy, difficult problem to deal with. Certainly not a black and white issue.