Links for Feb. 23, 2007

By: Ray Pellecchia

File Under: NYSE

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Larry Tabb writes that he's pleasantly surprised: "The NYSE pulled off the acquisition of a lifetime (Euronext), implemented the Hybrid, cut costs to the bone, increased revenue, became profitable, and held off virtually all of the upstart/recapitalized regional exchanges and ECNs. Who would have thunk it (other than John Thain)? I thought it was beyond odds." He also discusses NYSE's competitive advantages in a Reg. NMS environment. (Wall Street & Technology)

"Big Board Loses Edge as Price Improvement Drops": "The study found that in November orders for non-hybrid stocks were price-improved 41 percent of the time. Orders for hybrid stocks were price- improved only 16 percent of the time. At ECNs, the rate is 10 percent. The study cautioned that the changeover to hybrid was still recent and that specialists could still adjust their algorithms to increase the frequency with which they provide price improvement." (Traders magazine)

"SEC Cuts Big Board Specialists Some Slack": "The Securities and Exchange Commission relieved New York Stock Exchange specialists from certain trading restrictions. The regulator approved a Big Board proposal to amend its Rule 104 to permit specialists to trade for their own accounts in a less constrained fashion. The SEC cited changes to the trading environment brought on by Regulation NMS as the basis for its decision." (Traders)

"Big Change at the Big Board: Where is the hybrid market heading?" "Clearly, the broader market for NYSE stocks will remain hybrid, with the Big Board running a fast electronic trading platform. The question is, where will the rest of the hybrid reside partially on the floor or entirely off-board?" (Traders)

What's Special About This Number? This is an amazing Web page for the quants and any other mathematically minded folks out there. Pick any number between 0 and 9,999, and this page has a neat fact about it. For example, 27, my favorite number, is the largest number that is the sum of the digits of its cube. The page also tells you that 914 is the number of binary rooted trees with 15 vertices (as if you didn't know that), and adds a link to explain what that means. Thanks to my colleague Michael Berneis for sending this along.

Tags: New York Stock Exchange, Hybrid Market, NYSE, NYSE Group, NYX, trading, stock market