[ i have a better idea: lets fire all the crooks and go all electronic.. [/B][/QUOTE] Good Idea,...the volume on these Electronic ECNS is stable, solid and real....just ask MKXT and and some of these other ecen crooks who have 5 traders on one side of the room selling to five guys on the other side...SWIFT is a great example of electronic trading at its best!
AAA, Once again a good point on the option market makers. A retail trader can not sit on the bid and ask at the same time. Even if he has married or covered positions. Hardly what I would consider progressive market conditions.
Jeez, MSFT, CSCO, INTC in nickels with these robust ranges? Let alone SUNW, ORCL and JNPR. Stuff will trade at about 3 price points a day!
I don't see a liquidity problem either. Sure there is not liquidity at every penny, but there is plenty of liquidity 10-15 cents away. All the liquidity you need. I'd say lately there is even more liquidity than ever 15 cents away from the market. Just try to get one of these stocks to move 15 cents without futures ripping 2 points. its nearly impossible after 10:30. The problem with the current environment is that stocks are staying in 10-20 cent ranges for hours. I don't see how this is due to decimilizatoin. Stocks were moving fine last year. Now an average day is like the very worst day you could imagine last year. I'd say today was as good as a christmas eve type session last year.
it is sickening to think about what the SEC could do, there was the PDT, the QQQ & ISLD thing then scrapping decimalization? Decimalization has been the best thing to happen to small investors and traders. I don't give a damn if mutual funds or market makers don't like it.
dont worry about it, the sec is just stroking the greedy F$#%s 10/1 nothing happens. sell the specialist stocks, MER, and the rest
the analogy is laughable... dont you realize that an auction might take 15 to 30 minutes to establish a price for one item, but in the SM 1,000's of transactions take place every second. and in an auction the bidders do not disclose in advance... in the SM, a seller can opt to take out a bidder, or number of posted bidders at anytime, unless or course, he has to go through specialist or MM. then he is liable to have the auctioneer (MM) step in front of him and buy the item and immediately sell it to a higher bidder. if you want to buy you can hit the offer and teh opposite for selling... and you can sweep an offer eitherway to take out multiple levels at the same time. WS is crooked - they've admitted to it. its just a way to win back the portion of the 1.4B settlement they didnt pay to themselves to operate idependent analysts. whatta joke! WS is not there to provide an income for MMs or specialists.
While I understand why some people may like pennies. Let us make one thing perfectly clear. It is better to make the specialist join you at a nickel price point then let his clerk sell a penny in front of you and leave you holding the bag. Then you decide to cross the market and sell. Where do you sell if you do not get the first level what is the second level? Same scenario over and over. Its like limit roulette. It is just wrong to think pennies are better than nickels on the NYSE.
i think it is wrong to have his clerk step in front of you period! its not about liking pennies or nickels, hell, why not make the spread a $1.00 even? they are just skimming larger amounts all day long. do you really think the market is broken? other than the fact that some think they can make more daytrading or scalping, do you think the market is broken.... my opinion is to fire the crooks!