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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (81452)	10/20/1999 11:34:00 PM
From: Bill Harmond	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Great!!! What a pathetic jackass.

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (81452)	10/21/1999 2:42:00 AM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Hi Glenn D. Rudolph; Re AOL, KIS and "level 2"... I've got a direct access account, with access to NYSE stocks, and, sure enough, there is a "level 2" for NYSE stocks. It's not the same as the Nasdaq level 2. But it is more information than a retail trader using Schwab, for instance, would get. Instead of different market makers, it shows various stock exchanges. Any big stock like AOL will be traded on a half dozen or so stock exchanges, not just the NYSE. So the level 2 screen shows you the prices from the NYSE plus all the other participating markets. A good fraction of direct access guys would probably refer to this information as "level 2", even though it technically may not be. That is because it shows up in exactly the same place as your level 2 data, and is color coded the same way. In fact, a neophyte unfamiliar with the incredible complexities of this nations unbelievably diverse stock markets would have trouble distinguishing between ASE, NYSE, and Nasdaq traded stocks, just by looking at the market maker box on a level 2 display. The big difference is that a Nasdaq traded stock will list things like GSCO or NITE next to the size and price, while a NYSE stock will show something like NYS or PHL there. It turns out that you can use some of the same keys to buy NYSE stocks as Nasdaq from my direct access account, but it is a lot simpler than the Nasdaq rules. Essentially, you use the SOES keys to access NYSE or ASE stocks. As far as the block sizes, NYSE stocks show prints the same way that Nasdaq stocks do. A block of 50,000 is shown as "500", for instance. In fact, because of the specialists, it is easier to tell whether the stock is trading on the bid or the ask, because there are almost never any trades between the bid and ask. So on any given trade, someone gets wholesale, and the counterparty gets retail. I believe that this is consistent with what kind of data everybody sees on their level-2 screens all over the country. It looks to me that KIS is going to lose some of his option premium, but his observations about level 2 and blocks going by is consistent with my own experience. You really can't go all over the guy for referring to what you see on a level 2 market maker box as "level 2". I would surmise that he either trades at a direct account, or, more likely, gets his quotes from PCQuotes. -- Carl