I don't think any direct access broker but Castle was offering this at the time, and they were cut off by NITE in a few months. I got to use it and it was really money from heaven on arbitrage... while it lasted. As far as I know several online brokers had this but this feature wasn't as easy to take advantage of with them as it was with direct access. Vad
I don't know about everyone else, but the biggest problem I have in trading is trying to get an execution in a fragmented market. Especially if the market is moving fast, it's very difficult. Wouldn't it be great if you could just specify you wanted to buy 1000 shares at x price, without wasting time trying to figure out how you wanted to route your order? It sounds to me like SuperMontage addresses this issue. I'm still a little confused about some of the order routing priorities, but I'm all for it if it solves the fragmentation debacle.
I still haven't figured out, how I am going to bid or offer. Not being a mm, I'll have to use an ECN. But, if this price/time/fee priority thing comes in, I will be filled AFTER all the mm's are filled, even if I posted my bid/offer at the same price BEFORE the mm's posted their bid/offer. NASDAQ nor the ECN's can give me a straight answer to this, maybe i haven't looked for it hard enough. If the above is how it is going to work out, this will mean all mm's will have the ability to frontrun all marketparticipants who are not a mm. I am pretty optimistic Island or Inca will find a solution for this though.
Efficient order routing (EOR) is just like saying CRM (Customer Relationship Mgmt software). CRM is to DBMS as EOR is to "taking candy from babies". Simply put, EOR is mythical other than as a descriptor of a lofty software objective. IOW (in other words) when you soup up a database and provide additional front end software customized to provide Customers better Relationship Management, you still only have a database. The crashing of PSFT, SEBL, ORCL, SAP and other similar database firms this week is a testament to the marketplace finally seeing through all the glitsy sales talk and coming up empty. Perhaps that's why their stocks tanked.... Simply put, I've seen many guys blow their accounts becase the ECN held their orders and internally preferenced their own book first (like SLK's Redi, and ARCA, etc.) before submitting the order to the Level II/III general order flows. These guys never really knew what drained them, other than constantly seeing their executions be bettered by the previous and following trades. Super Montage, Redi, ARCA, SLK and others who both develop and profit from both sides of the market can rarely provide fair trading grounds to the professional traders using their own monies. Perhaps there's a lot to be said to trading through NYSE instead of these ECN's on the NASD, as your company strongly suggests that all their traders do. Cavete Trader!
Not sure I agree with this assessment. In the current scenario, if an ECN is bidding at the inside, does it appear in the Nasdaq Level 2 quote? Obviously, yes it does. And if you want to hit that bid, do you do so using a Nasdaq order execution system? Probably not. You probably do it via a direct connection to that ECN from your b/d's trading platform (except for the lesser used ECN's which you probably still access via SNET). So even though the bid appears next to other bids that are being executed against via Nasdaq trading systems, the ECN bid is hit outside the Naz systems. Won't it work the same way with SuperMontage for the more liquid ECNs like Isld/Inca/Arca etc? My understanding is that the ECN's are not planning on being participating ECN's (except Lightspeed/Market XT) in SuperMontage, just as they have not participated in SuperSOES. Even if they are, and there bids/offers would be behind other MM quotes in price priority due to the fees, could we not still hit/take those ECN bids/offers directly-not thru the SuperMontage system-just like we do now? I would think that this will not change whatsoever. Thus fast forward to SS days and I am long and want to cover and you want to buy. You post your bid on ISLD, which appears in Super Montage ranked behind other MM quotes due to the ISLD fees. But I could care less about the extra 1/4 cent and whack your bid via my direct ISLD key and we both are filled. I have to think it will still work this way don't you?
Never heard of this problem, and certainly it's not happening currently. I use REDI all the time (avoids the ISLD odd lot issue) and get instant fills. Anyone that would 'blow their account' on something like this wasn't going to last long anyhow.
perhaps that's why they didn't. the issue is undecided, there are those that swear by REDI, and those that curse it. It does have its days of being excellent, but when I saw a demonstration of how ARCA based Realtick (DA software) based trading worked, I realized why there were superior platforms. There are a whole number of threads regarding slamming REDI, and perhaps you might want to start one on praising REDI. I know that from what I've seen, SLK cares less about public opinion of its software, and that's where the problem starts, festers and ends.
Just look at the fundamentals of this thing--Market Makers will be in control again with no competition from the ECN's. That spells biggers spreads like the NYSE. The whole thing is obviously meant to put the MM's back on top and eliminate competition. Mark my words!
Limit, I think you are refering to the software RediPlus, whereas he is referring to simply accessing liquidity from REDI the ECN. I agree with him that accessing liqudity via the REDI ECN is very efficient. I also agree with you that accessing liquidity via the REDI ECN...OR....any other pool of liquidity....with REDI Plus the software can be very frustrating.