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.

Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. P. who wrote (15956)	8/12/1998 12:32:00 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 77400

You have so many questions! The market, especially the NASDAQ, is dynamic, changing every second, with individual investors, daytraders, marketmakers, institutions, hedge funds, short sellers and heaven knows who else (each with a secret agenda trying to make a buck) contributing to the orderly confusion. I had Level II quotes for a while and then dropped the service because there was so much going on... and so much dodges and fakes between the MMs that I couldn't really make useful sense of it. Bid and ask quantities appear and disappear as bids and offers are placed - then cancelled. But anyway... I'm not sure what you mean about the 1,000 share blocks at bid "balancing" a 5,000 share block at ask. For each buyer on any exchange or market there must be a seller, and vice versa, be it a MM, specialist, trader or another investor. Somebody buys 5,000 at ask, others sell smaller blocks at bid. Not really a pattern here. A 50,000 block won't send the market higher if there aren't any buyers willing to pay more. I've seen bigger blocks trade at the day high. I presume some institution wanted a set number of shares that day and drove the price high through buying, after which sellers were attracted by the higher price and the price declined... the invisible hand of the market at work. The subject is quite interesting, but beyond the scope of this group to discuss. Perhaps you might consider a service that gives you time and sales data so you can study the relationships between bid, ask and sales for a time period. Perhaps other readers can point you (and me, too!) to specific books, discussion groups or other educational sites of interest. Regards: >>>Why do 5000 block sales go through at the ask, and 1000 blocks at the bid balance the 5000? Why doesn't the larger volume at the ask send the stock even higher? Sometimes I see 50,000 blocks at the ask, and the price isn't sent higher....trying to understand this...<<<