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 : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (89798)	1/18/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: Scrumpy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176387

That article is out of date and looks like it was published in 1993 (scroll to the bottom). NASDAQ was sued and settled for about a billion dollars in January 1997. They promised to stop "conspiring" to keep spreads artificially wide. They now get SOES'ed to death...but the average "lay" trader can live happily ever after.

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (89798)	1/18/1999 11:40:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Mohan, I have long argued the spread issue -- remember I pointed out that in the NASDAQ you buy at the ask and sell at the bid and you cannot trade in between. And I have been victimized by trading ahead, as I am sure many others on this thread have likewise been bilked by this practice. BUT, this article in no way supports the wild price manipulation theories put forth by Voltaire and some others. We are talking here of clipping small investors of 1/4 or 1/2, not major market moves as have been proposed to explain large movements and stock options. Also note that the article pointed out that market makers do not carry inventories, which lends credence to my point that they cannot move the markets more than fractionally. There was a lawsuit recently that required market makers to quote bid and ask prices in much smaller fractions than had been done in the past. Nevertheless, I believe that the NASDAQ is populated by a den of thieves. And when stocks are thinly traded and there are only a few market makers, watch out! Another thing to be wary of are the very deep discount brokers. How are they making their money? Simple, they use market makers that give them a kickback. Maybe it's a quarter of a point, so the commission on that 500 share trade works out to $125 + $5 nominal commission, or $130. You have no guarantee that your broker is using the market maker with the best prices. The other point that should be clear to all you TA jocks out there: the volumes mean nothing! There is entirely too much interdealer trading for meaningful numbers. TTFN, CTC