My read on "Never before in the history of the markets....etc." makes sense. And I have no idea what you're talking about in you last note.... Perhaps you can re-read your last post and let us know what you mean?? quote> - there is "obviously" ridiculous about this statement <unquote 1988?? I am simply stating that we (the public) have the best chance in history to participate in the markets.....nothing more, nothing less.... Don
Sure we can participate... we are cannon fodder for the institutions now that the "dumb public" isn't there to bail us out anymore.
don is right about that. and I am grateful for that. and yet, we are prohibited, in practice, from true free trade in listed. I don't think that should be. It's their exchange...they can run it any way they like. But if they continue to play squeeze the trader, they will lose short term liquidity.
Agreed. They are already losing liquidity. In the QQQ, SPY etc the listed market has become reactionary to the ECn market. The little guy is FIRST! The NYSE has become just an institutional market that responds to the ECNs. The ECNs lead the way.
Yes, and the ability for ANY "free trade" may be destroyed by the Nasdaq ....even the ECN"s are being segregated out by the "Super Montage."..... I'm sure that it will all work out.... But you guys know this, I'm sure... Another note, having been an exchange member since 1979...the rules of the exchanges that may seem to favor the members have been modified a great deal to protect the public (a good thing)...and yet the prices of seats have fallen dramatically, and dues have gone up...so exchange members, who have to take risk like everyone else, have had to compromise quite a bit as well. Remember, most Specialist firms were wiped out in 1987...causing the move to "corporate entities"....at the posts... Just comments... Don
It is still a situation where a cartel holds the edge and that simply is not free enterprise. Cartels: Clearing, Specialist, SRO's. I believe in benevolent monopolies. But they don't exist anymore. Allowing the average Joe access to the floor is no improvement for him if the floor can toy around with his order. It's a halfway deregulation, and as such is (at times) the worst of both worlds. We are marching in the right direction. We still have a ways to go. If Prechter's right, though, it may not matter....
Since there are so many "outside factors" involved, we have little to worry about with the open market system. Remember, the Specialists act as much like a "clearing house" for both sides of a trade as they do a participant....and we need the "auction house" (like Ebay) to congregate .... I prefer them over the MM system where the trades come to MM and are executed twice....buy order pays offer, sell order sells at bid to MM....as opposed to trading with each other at a median price. Don't worry, I am not blind enough to think that all the Specialists are good guys, or that the system is perfect...it just works, and works pretty well. Don
They are already losing volume to the ECN's and as the ECN's grow, this will continue to happen. The little guy uses them to avoid games, the big guys use them to remain anonymous or hide big orders. I'm sure there are already computer programs at the big firms that are using the ECN to get rid of stock in size... throwing out a few hundred shares here and there under certain guidelines throughout the course of the trading day. Don't need a human to do it, just monitor it. Specialists miss out on "participation" that they can get in on when those big orders come to the floor.