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To: jawd who wrote (492)	6/20/1998 8:16:00 PM
From: Eric P	Respond to of 1729

Great post! Post back to this thread if you get any responses from Josh, Nasdaq, etc. You may also want to post the same information on the Datek thread. I hope Josh has a good (and honest) explanation for what you have seen. Island offers the advantage of liquidity for the individual trader. However, I hate the prospect of choosing between getting screwed by the market makers OR getting equally screwed by Datek. I haven't used Island for limit orders in my daytrading account. Typically, I will preference ISLD only if I see an ISLD bid/ask at a price and size that I want to trade against. Then I use a FOK (Fill-or-Kill) order which will time out immediately if not filled. Still, I will sometimes see ISLD at the ask with a size of 1000 shares, only to enter an immediate order for the 1000 shares and get filled for only 400. Very frustrating... Has anyone noticed anything in the Island or Datek 'small print' that would allow them to take the best trades for themselves, in preference over their customers? -Eric

To: jawd who wrote (492)	6/20/1998 10:14:00 PM
From: tony	Respond to of 1729

I have to agree with him. We need to report this to SEC. As I was in AMZN and the movement of the stock was very violent. It could have been done by automatic computer trading which is ISLD. I think this is very unfair game, at one end you have market maket to screw you by hiding their qty and on the other hand ISLD. This is the real observation. I noticed the similar situation in YAHOO also.

To: jawd who wrote (492)	6/24/1998 5:04:00 PM
From: R Stevens	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1729

I find ISLD to be unworkable at times. It is particularly frustrating to see my order on ISLD say 2000 (20 on L2) then I get a fill say 600; the screen shows ISLD 14 (20-6) then it goes to say 10 - but heck... no fills! So, ISLD is selling for themselves or Datek's account. In the meantime, all the best fills are gone and the price has moved up, I'm left with only 600 - I have to cancel the remaining 1400 order. Datek gets MY other 1400 for themselves! This activity is called "front loading" - it is illegal and I believe that is exactly what happens. So, if Datek is working a stock for themselves, I dont use ISLD - I'll use ARCA or Selectnet instead. But when ISLD is not working against me, I'll use them because it gives faster results. jawd, I trade with Datek so I was concerned about your comments. I copied part of your comments to them, without identifying the post, and asked them for their response. Here is the email I got from them. What do you think? Dear Online Trader: Datek Online does not make a market in any stock and does not trade for its own account. All orders executed through Datek Online is done so in an agency capacity. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Customer Support at 1-888 GO DATEK. Thank you, Datek Online

To: jawd who wrote (492)	6/25/1998 12:52:00 AM
From: zurdo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1729

jawd, I am new on this thread, and I find your comments interesting...I believe you..If ISLD is crooked why isn't the SEC doing something about it?? Is it because they are looking the other way, as they appear to do so often in so many instances of wall street big money crookedness?? Perhaps if enough of us write to the President, Vice President, and whatever congressional committee is responsible for oversight of the SEC (with "courtesy" copies to the SEC), enough heat will be generated to get the SEC leadership off their *ss to do their job effectively. Day traders do not deserve to get shafted like that...It should be a level playing field..