Dude, I think you're full of shit. It was the SOES bandits that essentially brought the birth of ECNs. I think you're talking about SelectNET.
What do you know about the SOES bandits? BTW, by the time Houtkin wrote his book, that game was long over. He was on his boat counting his money. It is obvious to me you know shit about direct access trading at that time. Noone with some knowledge would conflate a specialist with market makers. I understand your wanting to chirp in to support someone you like but stick to the facts. Either Volpre is outright making shit up or he is fucking delusional. No point arguing, so if you can't accept that, all I can say is go fuck yourself. You are conflating the specialist with a market maker. The specialist was given a monopoly by the exchange to make a market in a stock.
Sorry but you don't know what the hell you are talking about. It was ONLY an edge in NYSE and AMEX because they had specialists not market makers. I traded many many times like I explained in my previous post. It worked when the specialist would open the spread. It did not and could not exist in the NAZ. Sorry Don didn't know about it. LOL If you wish to learn more about the technique get up off your royal behind, order the books below and read them (even though it won't work today): 1) daytrade online christopher farrell followed by his sequel: 2) The Day Trader's Survival Guide:... by Farrell, Christopher A (amazon.com) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that oversees the nation's stock markets, ordered all U.S. stock markets (see below) to convert to decimals by April 9, 2001. The decimal system brings several benefits to the small investor, according to NYSE chairman and CEO Richard A. Grasso. Prior to that date the techniques worked great. I traded them many times. Often times over and over in the same stock during the day session. All one had to do was scan stocks that the specialists open up the spread and jump in with limit orders. Yes the specialist got mad because the spread was his bread and butter. He would do it a while on a stock then stop. But that was his problem for opening the spread. It was a lucrative way to dayTrade back in the day of fractions. Going to decimals DID not help the dayTrader who was using the techniques. Look just because you or Don didn't know about it doesn't mean it was bullshit! LOL