I have neither the patience for NYSE fills, nor do I think of most specialists as anything but crooks. I have for far too many years seen my rather small orders move a market in stock that is not moving on heavy volume. Put in a market order to buy, and the offer goes up. A market order to sell, and the bid drops. Special for you!!! However, as much as I believe the system is unfair, I also believe the concept, if regulated properly....in other words, if they crack down on abuse of power by the specialists, is a good system in theory. The "fair and orderly" concept really does have merit. On an ECN, if you are long a stock and want to sell it, and there are no buyers, you are stuck. Same for covering a short. Yes, there are OTC market makers that are supposed to serve a similar function (to provide a market) as the specialists. We have all seen them back away. Series 55 guys know all about the rules. But I have never seen any rules broken nearly as much with the possible exception of jay walking. I never appreciated how easy it was to trade when I traded SOES in the mid nineties. Too bad I no longer can. But even so, I have no idea if that has changed too. And on ANY exchange, I think the introduction of decimalization has made it all so much tougher. On the NYSE, before decimalization, you could not see a penny spread go to a dollar (or even a quarter) by entering a market order. And on the OTC, who would have imagined that someone entering bids and offers a tenth of a cent (sometimes even a hundredth of a cent) above or below could knock your limit order down a notch? Bring back the Curb!!! Peace, Rs7