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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bald Man from Mars who wrote (30926)	1/18/1998 1:26:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

analyst's ranking.Brokerage Firm Date of Last Recommendation Recommendation ROBERTSON STEPHENS & CO 01/12/98 BUY HAMBRECHT & QUIST LLC 01/08/98 BUY RAYMOND JAMES & ASSOC 01/05/98 ACCUMULATE OLDE DISCOUNT 01/05/98 ACCUMULATE Major Broker 01/04/98 GERARD KLAUER MATTISON 01/02/98 HOLD JOSEPHTHAL LYON & ROSS 12/31/97 BUY WESSELS ARNOLD 12/29/97 LONG TERM BUY MONTGOMERY SECURITIES 12/17/97 HOLD Major Broker 12/17/97 ADAMS HARKNESS & HILL 12/15/97 UNDERPERFORMER EVEREN SECURITIES INC 12/12/97 UNDER PERFORMER UBS SECURITIES 12/10/97 NEUTRAL FURMAN SELZ INC 12/03/97 RECOMMENDED LIST COWEN & COMPANY 11/26/97 NEUTRAL Major Broker 11/05/97 HOLD UK 11/05/97 BUY Major Broker 11/04/97 BUY FIRST ALBANY CORPORATION 11/03/97 NEUTRAL VOLPE AND WELTY 10/31/97 NEUTRAL DEUTSCHE MORGAN GRENFELL 10/31/97 BUY UTHENDAHL CAPITAL PARTNERS 10/30/97 BUY Major Broker 10/27/97 MARKET PERFORMER AM 10/24/97 N/A EDWARD D JONES & CO 10/17/97 HOLD Major Broker 10/10/97 OUTPERFORM BEAR STEARNS & CO INC 10/10/97 NEUTRAL S G WARBURG & CO INC 10/10/97 BUY PERSHING AND COMPANY 10/03/97 HOLD/BUY COMPANY ESTIMATE 09/29/97 N/A NEEDHAM & COMPANY INC 01/08/97 N/A ADVEST INC 12/31/96 N/A SOUNDVIEW FINANCIAL GROUP 12/17/96 N/A DILLON READ & CO INC 12/17/96 N/A PUNK ZIEGEL 12/16/96 N/A VAN KASPER & COMPANY 10/21/96 N/A COMVEST PARTNERS 10/04/96 N/A

To: Bald Man from Mars who wrote (30926)	1/18/1998 3:48:00 PM
From: username	Respond to of 61433

Ya kiddin'?? ME, dude! I got feelers out ta Steven, Jack, Tom, Nicole, and Michelle. Quentin is doin' the script. I got 8 figures at my back, my man. Ya want a couple of speaking lines, I assume? Love ya. Lunch.

To: Bald Man from Mars who wrote (30926)	1/30/1998 12:11:00 PM
From: username	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Mars, Bald Man from: re: market makers and inventory; You may have a bit of a misunderstanding on how market makers function. Primarily, MMs are there simply to facilitate the buying and selling of the stock. I'm talking about the NASDAQ here, the NYSE has a group of people that stand on the floor of the exchange and basically do the same thing; (I'm simplifying it); but there is no reason for the MM to be there unless they have orders to fill. The idea that a MM will buy in his own inventory and hold it for weeks or months is not correct. Let's take a made-up example. Dingleberry Securities makes a market in Ascend, and 25 other NASDAQ stocks. DING is the symbol on the quote machine for the MM. The AQ in NASDAQ is the "automated quotation system. Level 1 is available to whomever wants to pay for the data, it shows the "inside market", (highest bid and lowest ask), this is what you are seeing on the quote sites on the Internet. Level 2 is available to NASD approved subscribers; the general public does not have access to it. It shows the current quote and size of that quote for each MM in that security. The quote must be firm for at least 100 shares. Level 3 is level 1 and 2, plus the user (a MM), can update their quotes. DING has a trader named Bob that sits at a desk in front of the NASD approved and regulated computer. He may be trading as many as 5 different stocks, so DING may have 5 traders for the 25 stocks they make a market in. Bob the trader is very regulated. He has, among other things, a dollar limit that he cannot exceed in his trading. (If he is trading for an institution, like a mutual fund, his limit may be considerably higher than if he is trading single orders from retail clients. There is no reason for Bob to be "in the market", (trading on Level 3), unless he has orders to fill. Similarly, he does not want to buy ASND at 30 and sell it 10 minutes later at 29. He is working on the "spread", he wants to move some stock from one place, (another MM), to his customer, or send his customer's stock to another MM, and take a piece of the trade for the firm he works for. He has no reason to hold stock for days or weeks or months. It could be suicidal, because if he does, and he's wrong, he "takes a hit", (he pays, or his firm pays after he has been assisted to seek an alternative career opportunity If Bob has an order to buy 20,000 shares of ASND, (in our made up example), he does not want to advertise it to the other MMs, since they would have a tendency to hold their stock and let the price move up, (which is what their selling clients would expect). That's where the poker game comes in. The stock that Bob is holding (or is short), at any one time is called his "inventory", but it's not at all like cans on the shelf in a supermarket. At the end of the day, he wants to be "even" and profitable. Finally, there are times when a MM will hold stock, or be short, for an extended period of time, but the time is not weeks or months. Most traders prefer to be short than long while they are working. And if I find out how the NASDAQ stocks seem to close right below strike prices on options expiration dates, I will let you know. I wish I could answer that one; but I am not sure I can find anyone who will answer it on the Internet. pete