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

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (1446)	5/31/1999 6:13:00 AM
From: slowy@lowys.com	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4443

Don't the institutions determin ASTN's future? If they use it we win if not we lose.

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (1446)	5/31/1999 1:59:00 PM
From: mst2000	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4443

Zeev - You may be right. The second application for approval may be easier than ATG's was, though I still think it will necessarily involve developing a system that works, operating it, Beta testing it more than once, inviting the SEC to attend Beta tests, providing an operational system guide to the SEC to ensure fairness, transparency, surveillance, anti-manipulation protections, etc. and then letting the SEC satisfy themselves that all the necessary protections are in place before it is allowed to operate. How long that would take is anybody's guess, even assuming every test is "passed" as it occurs. I think ATG probably looks at it like this: First, why would a competitor with a lot of financial resources devote them to competing with us head to head on Rule 237 type VWAP executions, rather than pursue an alternative strategy. If they do, that means two companies will be splicing into what most people will agree is a limited marketplace. In other words, I would think ATG views their competitors (on VWAP only) as the B/D's now performing synthetic VWAP executions on a non-anonymous basis, and ITG's POSIT system, which performs synthetic VWAP executions electronically. Or, if I were ATG, that's how I would probably view it. Second, ATG may be thinking that if they if they get VTS launched, add additional intraday VWAP trading iterations and generate enough volume to fund the business plan for eMC, eOX, eAS and NextExchange, or some of them, then that will be that much less outside equity or financing it will need to achieve the goal of developing a family of electronically based alternative trading systems, which has been its business plan all along. Successful launch of VTS is very important to them, but all I have heard from the company points to the other systems and subsidiaries they are developing as being equally or more important parts of their ultimate business plan. I do not think VTS has to be a home run for ATG to be successful. But I do think they need to get it successfully launched by the end of this year, if not sooner. In sum, in the very short term, they seem to be protected from immediate direct competition in "anonymous pre-opening VWAP executions". In the long term, they will be diversifying what they do. But so that there is no misconception, I have no guaranties that any of their development stage projects will come to fruition - indeed, until VTS is actually deployed, it too remains the possible topic of speculation. I just see the companies timing bandwith as more like a year or two, rather than 1-3 months, to launch systems and generate revenue before I start to worry about the doomsday scenario that seems to predicate the short perspective on this stock. MST