The Amex has their test program in place, and is reporting results. I got this email today. ___________________________________________________ S&P Pilot Program Closing Report - Day 2 - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Standard & Poor's initiated the pilot program for the S&P 500 in response to the investment community's demands for more efficiency and reliability in pricing procedures for Nasdaq securities. Standard & Poor's will use the pilot to determine whether the Amex auction market system provides better results for index users than the Nasdaq dealer system. On the second day of the S&P Pilot Program, Starbucks (SBUX) closed on the Amex with a trade of 75,600 shares. This trade was the largest print of the day in SBUX representing 2.7% of consolidated SBUX volume for the day. In SBUX, a 'Sell' imbalance of 47,700 was disseminated at both 3:40 and 3:50. The specialist satisfied this imbalance at the close (along with a 27,900 pair-off) with very little market impact at a price of $37.32. This price was only 3¢ lower than the consolidated VWAP during trading from 3:59-4:00. In Genzyme, the Amex official closing price (AOCP) was $49.08. The 4:00.02 predicate trade in the Nasdaq marketplace was $49.18, which was later adjusted by Nasdaq to $49.08 (the AOCP price) and disseminated at 4:01.30. The Amex closing print in Staples (SPLS) was set with 27,400 shares. <<...OLE_Obj...>> On March 8, six additional Nasdaq stocks will be added to the pilot program to use Amex closing prices. For more information, please call (800 )932 1332 or e-mail: tradenasdaq@amex.com. <<Closing Report 2004-03-02.pdf>> ___________________________________________________ Curious to see how this plays out. I like the idea of having published imbalances, and hope that they may offer some opening only plays as well. Don