Thanks for the response. So proactive outside of its own book? YUK! If I want that I can go to Arca. I like the fact that Island/Inca do NOT do that. It depends on trading styles. Also, will they be accepting odd lots? I really wish they would stay in their own book for speed!
For order executions, you will see the same speed as you see now, or better IMO. I assume that they will continue to sweep their internal book first, providing the same speed that you see now. If there is NOT a matching order on their books, then you would otherwise simply have you order passively posted on their books for execution by someone else. Now with external routing, however, your order will be sent to whatever a matching order can be found, which will likely be a faster order execution than allowing your locking/crossing order to sit passively on the ISLD/INCA book. The only real disadvantages that I see are the following: 1) If actively routed outside their books, you will be charged a higher ECN fee, likely 0.4 cps (like ARCA external routing) versus the 0.3 cps (for ISLD/INET internal fill) or a credit of 0.2 cps (for ISLD/INCA add liquidity passive order fill). 2) Your cancels may take a few milliseconds longer to confirm if you request an immediate cancel right after order placement. This should only be the case if you happen to request cancel during the initial external routing check or external routing order placement phase. I doubt this delay will be long enough to even detect, though. The main disadvantage I see, if any, is the higher fee for routing to external books. Personally, I welcome this change and am looking forward to having a viable alternative to ARCA for proactive routing. Recently, ARCA has been pretty reliable, but there were times a few months back when their reliability was awful, and it affected my trading. Nice to have a backup, or better yet, ARCA might become my backup. -Eric
When I visit Island's website it says the following: Was just wondering if anybody had any idea what the "Instinet, The Institutional Broker" was for? Would there be a separate place to match trades through the "Instinet, The Institutional Broker," or does the notion of a separate Instinet ECN go away completely?
The institutional broker is for their buy-side business (agency trading, soft dollars, etc.). The idea of Instinet ECN goes away completely. No more INCA, only INET. Only three big ECNs left to play in (ARCA, INET, BRUT).
I received a bulletin from IB stating that Instinet and Island would be fully merged into INET as of January 1st. I don't find any mention of this on the INET website at www.island.com. Was this bulletin in error? I noticed I couldn't route to Instinet today via IB.
Last update: http://www.island.com./prodserv/developers/resources/emailarchive/20031218.asp I'm not sure why IB did this so early as most securities still trade on both Instinet and Island. However, I would expect that most of the merge will take place by the end of the month. Has anyone heard if INET will expand it's hours beyond 7 AM to 8 PM EST?
The latest update: http://www.island.com/prodserv/developers/resources/emailarchive/20040109.asp Given the contents of the above link, I have a question. Look at this paragraph: Doesn't the above text imply that there will still be an Instinet ECN (renamed a Broker/Dealer)? I am confused.
maybe this time someone can tell me who works for a prop firm with access to Instinet ... do they still make markets in equities from 3 am EST? my broker for the time being has stopped showing Instinet pricing at that time and only shows them from 7:10 am shortly after Island opens at 7 am