|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
automatically, bypassing the "specialists"traders on the Big Board floor who hold the franchise for dealing in specific NYSE-listed stocks. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The plan is seen by some analysts as a key step toward an eventual all-electronic market. The NYSE has long maintained that its system for filtering all trades through 480 specialists provides better prices and market stability for investors. But critics, including many of the NYSE member broker-dealers, are pushing the Big Board to emulate the competitionnamely such quick and low-cost electronic trading networks or ECNs, as Instinet, Island, and Primax Trading, which automatically match buyers and sellers with no intermediary involved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rush to Offer Alternative Trading Systems |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As indicated earlier, another important development is the ability of individual traders to place trades with independent electronic networks, so that you may be able to eliminate your present brokerage house altogether. These are already commonly used by day trading firms, handling millions of stock trades per day. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These alternative systems line up buy and sell orders from brokerages and match them automatically. This eliminates the role of dealers and stock exchanges. These alternative systems are currently available to a small number of individual investors who pay for the privilege to use them. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These systems have come about because of the new computer technology and customer pressure for low costs and fast trading. They have taken business away from exchanges by offering cheap trade execution during regular market hours and after hours. It is because of these systems that both the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange have been forced to lengthen their hours of trading. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Before long, these electronic systems will be available to all of us who are trading online. By eliminating the middle role that your brokerage house plays, you will pay less in commissions and be able to make immediate trades with other traders directly, guaranteeing yourself the best possible prices. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The gold rush has really just begun. Thousands are joining the prospecting game every week. And as a growing number have money to invest, online trading will continue to grow. This is not a passing fadanymore than the Internet itself is. And that leads us to why we need this bookthe first to explore the psychology of this exploding phenomenon of online investing. |
|
|
|
|
|