Boy, I just got that last one posted in time...
Robert (?) asked about Toronto options info on the net. Try
www2.canada-stockwatch.com
This is not the main page, but a little surfing around will get you there. This is not a free service, but they give a 30 free trial period.
Patrick asked whether the 'blueprint' would create opportunites for a "SOES bandit" operation like NASDAQ does. I don't really know. (SOES= small order execution system). I do know that Betty and Bolt spoke in reverent terms about Sweden, where there are about 70,000 registered independent traders who in many cases trade from home on their PCs. I know I wouldn't be too thrilled about trading a 1000-lot only to discover it was somebody's 12 year old playing around on the other side. This type of system (as well as the TSE's Torex system) is a beacon for hackers.
Now please indulge me for a minute while I tell you of an order I received Friday. It was to sell four contracts of a Bell series that was up about $2. This order was CFO'd twice by the client, each time rasing the limit price by .10c. We had dozens of CFOs Friday, and I believe the client has the right to do whatever he wants. In this case, however, the client had received an overnight windfall of $800, yet wanted to play 'stock-market' for an extra $40 each time. Well, he lost out, as we lowered the implied volatility to match the deluge of closing sellers, and he never sold his position. There are two lessons here--1) Bulls get rich, Bears get rich, and Pigs get slaughtered. 2) We really, really need an electronic book where the broker (the one who gets paid to handle the order) is the one who does the work. Trying to find, change, and re-file pieces of paper in a hectic market is truly horse-and-buggy stuff.
Not a complaint, just an observation.
Happy trading.
Porter |
