Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (26634)	3/12/1998 11:40:00 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

GD, Having been the biggest buyer and seller of options, I've had laddering attempted on me several times. The key is, a major buyer or seller can coerce a broker to take the other side of a trade at a reasonable price, and then the broker has to mete it out to floor traders or hedge the position. As individuals, we cannot do that and we are at the mercy of the floor. All the things people say about the floor traders and specialists and market makers being slime balls may or may not be true, but the overriding fact is that, except in a few larger cap names, these guys are woefully undercapitalized. Also, they get hammered so often by sleazier inside traders that they use their natural defense, which is to move bids and offers to a point where other money comes in to offset the risk. Just like a bookie does when he gets too many bets on one side. He moves the odds until they even up. MB