the nasdaq and nyse ones change on a periodical basis, not real time. and they change only in the last few minutes before the auction.
As I understand even though the latter example would create a significant imbalance the price of the auction would not be allowed to trade outside the NYSE Arca book correct? Of course the quotes will move when they see a significant imbalance like that but at least it creates some kind of market price instead of allowing the specialist of just ripping you off like crazy
Yes. People whine about HFTs, when the real low-hanging fruit to go after is the NYSE specialists. They just siphon money out of the system.