I used to work on the nyse floor. My broker was a $2 broker and I must say that he would seriously not go get a "fresh look" in your names 6 times a day for a commision of $160 (8000shrs). He would get a look once maybe twice if you give him business everyday. All other times his clerk is reading the tape and making up names blah blah blah. It is too embarassing for the broker to go bother the spec on these tiny orders for one ot two trades. You ever get the "goldman bot not here now" response? Yeah thats i'm too lazy and you are too embarrassing to deal with talk. Just a heads up. Also, Larry Helfant is pretty big on the floor, they were bot out by jeffries I believe recently becuase jeffries name was mud down there and they got banned for a while and had to trade through WD. My $.02
You are right it is a problem getting so many looks in diffrent stocks so frequently - That is why I use 2 brokers and there are a few traders in my firm that also send orders to the floor broker - We actually use Helfant/Jeffries for our dot orders. Also with confidence in using floor brokers are volume is increasing and we are learning to take bigger positions so we execute larger size thru the broker.
very cool thread. my cousin is a floor broker with merrill lynch - you'd think he would tell me he could help out.
Todayâs looks were in BAC â CD and CSC BAC Me (9:26:45 AM): give me a look into BAC , Broker âUpdate #1 @ (9:29:56 AM): bac 42.50 on 260k - ME@ (9:32:01 AM): any buyers? Update #2 @ (9:32:09 AM): checking , (9:34:37 AM): bac; merrill working 10k to buy Update #3 @ (9:34:53 AM): system selling Update #4 @ (9:35:24 AM): BAC; buyside is lite, Pershing working 50k for sale-- Me @(9:38:08 AM): keep me posted on BAC please if any more sellers (9:41:16 AM): bac? (9:43:32 AM): bac; all system now, pershing seller not here now Didnât do much in BAC because BAC held up strong CD Me (9:44:11 AM): ok tell me if any real buyers in CD Broker update #1 @ (9:46:15 AM): yes, smith barney is a real buyer (9:46:23 AM): bought alot of stock today, bought 100k in lots in past 5 min Update #3 @ (9:48:17 AM): cd; .45 top on 25k is raymond james, 3 sellers now Update #4 @ (9:48:28 AM): goldman bear and lxe have .50 lows (9:48:32 AM): on 200k combined This trade was a scalp for 20 cents on the long side â I donât usually try to scalp but I turned out to be one after I got out on the logside. I made 20 cents â CD was trading on good thick volume so my position size was decent. To bad I didnât catch the short seems like thatâs where the money was to be made. CSC Me (9:50:57 AM): CSC? Broker Update #1 @ (9:51:26 AM): csc, gs 20k to buy,scb are buyers (9:53:26 AM): still buyers? (9:53:37 AM): yes (9:53:41 AM): working buyers Update #2 @ (9:58:18 AM): csc, dbk ,b,scb are still buyers Me @ (10:03:40 AM): still buyers? Update #3 @ (10:06:36 AM): csc, p, sun, sbk w/buyers... sun wkng seller (10:07:57 AM): csc, bdk,scb are w/b... sun crossed for 20k - ME @(10:12:58 AM): CSC? any sellers? (10:13:21 AM): csc, sun, bs, lxe are sellers Basically in this trade I was long the whole way up â when it was very extended and my broker kept telling me that there were buyers I patiently watched for a big spread up at the high of the day but the actual trade to occur very close to the bid â and thatâs exactly what happened the bid started to get hit at the high of the day on a lot of volume â so I got short and soon enough after it CSC made a U-turn my broker confirmed that there were sellers behind all over â that is when I built up my position and rode the wave all the down to an average price $50.50 where I got out.
Todayâs looks; BLL - DJ- CBI - MSA ME (9:33:19 AM): BLL? Broker Update #1@ (9:35:27 AM): bll; 7k to buy cibc Broker gave me a tip @ (10:57:05 AM): brka for dj rumor ME@ (11:00:28 AM): what is brka for dj? Broker @(11:00:38 AM): Berkshire for dow jones its a a rumor ME@(11:00:55 AM): berkshire is buying the stock (DJ)? rumor? Broker @ (11:01:02 AM): y Broker @ (11:18:37 AM): news just hit street account â ME @ (3:33:27 PM): CBI? Broker update #1 @ (3:35:58 PM): CBI, bny is a seller, p, m 2 sided .. (3:38:37 PM): everyone is picking spots Today I used the broker calls to scalp around a little â because there was just too much institutional activity in most stocks. ME @ (3:55:38 PM): MSA - can you tell if the the orders are going in mrkt capped ?? Broker @ (3:56:12 PM): Yes buy order are being sent in as capped orders. Do you want some ? ME @ (3:58:32 PM): buy me 10k capped Broker @ (3:59:42 PM): bought 10k MSA avg pr @ 41.32 The MOC print was 25 cents higher than last trade price. I recongized that this would be a winning trade because usually capped orders are sent in when a gap happens at the close.
A capped order is a special order that can only be placed on the NYSE floor thru a floor broker- If you say for example i want a 5k mrkt buy capped order @ 50% then the specialist guarantees you that your mrkt buy order will be at least 50% of the buyside of the next trade. When stocks sometimes fly up 10 or 20 cents at a time and keep going higher and your mrkt order has not been filled yet - this is usually because the buyers - (floor brokers) on the floor are sending capped orders and this takes priority over all else. Once in a while when I want to get filled @ the best possible price but immediately - I will send a capped order. For example MSA - if you notice the last 5 minutes of trading all the buys done thru DOT (the computer) were getting filled at the high of the 2 minute range but the capped orders were the ones that got filled at the low end of the range .26 cents and 34cents.