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Strategies & Market Trends : Options for Newbies -(Help Me Obi-Wan-Kenobe) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: clochard who wrote (1246)	1/21/1999 1:47:00 PM
From: ----------	Respond to of 2241

Hello: My guess is options work similar to stocks. One specialist may make a market in the options of several companies. If it was "one man, one company", I think a lot of specialists would starve. I've seen obscure stocks where the WHOLE option chain may have total open interest of <100 contracts. Regarding scrutiny, IMO you are correct. At the same time, trading options requires signing an additional agreement & delivery of options handbook. (Basically, we are told up front this is a high class roulette wheel. <g>). OTC stocks on the other hand, especially microcap BBS stocks have been the source of numerous cons and scams where people thought they were investing in a company, not putting money on "up" or "down". Regards, Doug

To: clochard who wrote (1246)	1/21/1999 5:26:00 PM
From: Madpinto	Respond to of 2241

I believe a fast market can only occur if officials at the exchange deem it impossible for the order book to handle the orders coming into the crowd. Market makers in the crowd rarely call for a fast market without approval. In a fast market, the markets on the screen usually do not reflect the real markets. Due to the number of options series and the changing stock price, the market makers cannot change the markets quickly enough. The fact you were trading an obscure stock makes the likelihood of a fast market more probable. Often a rarely traded stock has only a few mm's updating the markets. I am not sure what you mean when you say, "They don't seem to be under the same scrutiny as NASDAQ market makers." I have watched NASDAQ market makers trade through bids and offers for years. Also, a fast market in a stock only applies to one bid and one ask. I can understand your frustration with your fill, but you may feel differently if you could experience how crazy a fast market can get.