Savage, I don't know about the specific situation on your submitted tape, but a typical strategy that is used by some traders is to "envelope" the bid/ask about .20 - .25 cents on both sides of the B/A - that is, offer .25c above the ask, bid .25c below the bid (these envelopes stay constant .25 above below as the stock keeps moving.) Then, when the spec prints a gap (he sweeps everyone and gives everyone, and himself, a big price improvement) above/below the ask/bid respectively, he then proceeds to take the stock back to where the stock was before the gap occured. IMHO, this works 90% on a stock like GE (though sometimes you have to live thru a couple of these before the stock goes the right way - take a look at COF on 5/30/02 at about 11:30 CST then again on 11:31 CST - small gaps, but the big ones are even sweeter) nitro