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Non-Tech : Market Makers - What They Do and How They Do It -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clarksterh who wrote (58)	1/19/1999 9:05:00 PM
From: Dave Shoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 429

Though I've had really good luck with Datek (I even get the occasional bid/ask price improvement), I'm a bit peeved at the way they can snatch a commission from me. It happened again today. I placed a limit order for 500 XYBR at 4-7/16. Within minutes, the price dipped and a flurry of 4-7/16 orders went through. I was sold a token 100. Throughout the afternoon 8000 more shares, in a dozen transactions, went by at 4-7/16. None for me. I was forgotten. Though a 'Good 'till Cancel' order, I figure my order is dormant until the price drops below 4-7/16. Datek has sold me 100 token shares numerous times. On another note, I'm surprised to learn MMs are allowed to snatch the cash from between the spread. I previously thought they lived on commissions from the trade. Silly me. Additionally, I now learn they can momentarily (wink, wink) 'stretch' the spread in a low-volume stock to grab a few stop-loss orders (or during those periods of wild chart swings they can overshoot the price at which a market order normally goes through) and thus pocket some really big sums of 'stretched-spread' money from a transaction. Forget about stock trading. I'd rather put my money in a sure thing. How do I get my mitts into some of that 'skimmed from the middle' moola. Besides being a broker, is Datek also a Market Maker? Do they profit from "playing the spread". Thanks for the new thread. I've gotten a heap of hints from it. Shoe.