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Technology Stocks : Zapata (ZAP) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Von who wrote (233)	7/17/1998 7:00:00 PM
From: Phil(bullrider)	Respond to of 1206

Von, Thanks for the information. It explains a lot about the irregular trading patterns we see in some of the active issues. Phil

To: Von who wrote (233)	7/17/1998 8:28:00 PM
From: Ken M	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1206

Why would the specialist be short this stock unless he thinks it is going down and he can cover his short position at a lower price? Also Zapata will be on CNBC Monday morning this will have a big effect on this stock Monday. IMO Good luck and good trading

To: Von who wrote (233)	7/17/1998 9:30:00 PM
From: DanZ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1206

<I have been told that the SEC allows large mutual funds to place large buy orders with phone calls to the specialist for that stock with out it ever crossing the big board, allowing the specialist to sell short and having 30 days to report the sale.> Maybe I don't have a clue what has been going on in the market for the past 15 years, but I don't know of any NYSE specialist that takes a position in a stock with the goal of profiting. Their function is to maintain an orderly market, not to speculate on which way a stock will move. In fact, I would think that such positions are illegal because it would give the specialist an incentive to try to move the market in a direction in which he would personally gain. Sorry, but I don't buy that. The bid and ask size are published by the specialist based on buy and sell orders in the order book. If the bid size was 900,000, then there must have been outstanding limit orders to buy 900,000 shares of stock at that price. If the size disappeared without being filled, then somebody canceled the order(s). There are such things as orders with discretion, in which the buyer or seller gives the specialist leeway to fill a large order within a range. In these cases, the specialist can pull orders based on the order flow. In other words, if somebody is trying to buy a lot of stock and the specialilst sees sellers coming in, he can pull the buy order and try to get the buyer a better price. This is the most logical explanation for what we are seeing in the bid/ask size. IMO, a fund is trying to buy a lot of ZAP and has given the specialist a discretionary order within a range. This would also explain the rising support on the chart. If anybody has a better explanation, please post it. The money flow was positive again today--more evidence that the stock is under accumulation.