http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...E93-9E02-5AE4404EB79D}&tool=1&dist=bigcharts& NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- NYSE Euronext has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to tie the fees it pays specialists to the exchange's market share in stocks listed on the NYSE. In a filing Tuesday, the NYSE said specialists would be paid based on the share of market data derived from the quoting share and the exchange's transaction fee revenue. If specialists help garner trading revenue by offering better quotes to investors, they will be paid more. The change to the fees is credited to the work of Duncan Niederauer, the NYSE's president and co-chief operating officer who joined the Big Board from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in February. "Niederauer has done what he promised, which is to align the interests of the NYSE with the specialists," said Patrick Healy, a capital markets consultant with the Issuer Advisory Group. Electronic trading and new market rules have fueled a decline in market share at the NYSE for trading its listed stocks. The NYSE now trades less than 50% of its listed shares, compared to more than 80% just four years ago. Specialists who once profited by trading for in-house accounts have been battered by unfettered electronic trading. Specialists, including the last two independent firms, LaBranche & Co. have been paid on a revenue-sharing agreement with the exchange since 2006.
don bright will soon post here saying that this is terrific news and now there is no reason to trade on nasdaq ever again