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Non-Tech : Ashton Technology (ASTN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (648)	5/4/1999 9:43:00 PM
From: mst2000	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4443

$.03 divided by 2 = .015 You've been posting the question of why an institution would pay 4 cents per share to trade when they normally pay 1 cent per share. At 1 1/2 cents per share (the institution, after all, pays only for its side of the trade), you are 167% high when you say 4 cents. And ATG has indicated publicly and in communications with anybody who calls them to ask that they will discount this rate under various circumstances (for example, and this is a guess, when a B/D agrees to take on a general matching commitment to any unmatched order, that B/D will rightfully ask for, and probably get, a 1/3 discount from 0.15 to 0.01. If you factor in 8-12 basis points per share (as the academics who wrote the paper posted on the PHLX web site did), the savings to the institutions studied alone amounted to between $150 - 175 Million per annum. And that is one of many reasons why an institution would choose to trade anonymously on a VWAP-type system (or other ATS's). As you know SEC filings always accentuate the "negative" because they are roadmaps to liability. With all due respect, I have yet to read a prospectus or 10K or 10Q which made me want to invest in the company issuing it -- they NEVER paint a rosy picture, and always stress the uncertainties of future outcomes in order to shield the company from liability suits. MST