Welcome back, Ray. Hope your vacation was more restful than the ass-kicking I received from the not-so-invisible hand of mother market.

Great article. I love how you dig this stuff up. I mean, who in NYC really reads USA Today anyway?

-DT

by Dinosaur Trader on July 12, 2007 1:17 PM

Thanks, DT. Sorry to hear you've been trading down. Bad markets happen to good people, I guess.

Vacation was great except the final weekend, when I got caught in misadventures in home improvement. Will have to blog that when I have a chance.

I know USA Today is not a first read for the financial set, but IMHO, I think that's a mistake, because we create our own tunnel vision by relying on the same sources of information over and over. For me, it's better to expand my horizons west of the Hudson, so to speak, and see what's going on beyond our financial microcosm.

I'm a lover of newspapers, and I think USA Today is way under-rated. People who got a bad first impression of the paper years ago should take a fresh look at what they're up to today. Good Web site too, with a lot of interactive features, including allowing comments on articles.

by Ray Pellecchia on July 12, 2007 3:46 PM

Ray,

Agree about the tunnel vision thing, very good point.

I blogged about another freaky-hybrid trade today. Check it out when you have a chance.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hearing about your misadventures in home improvement. That's something I can sympathize with.

Have a good weekend,

-DT

by Dinosaur Trader on July 13, 2007 4:34 PM

Ray, Hope all is well my friend. I was wondering if there has been any progress with the much anticipated increase in matching & price improvement? Also, can you tell me what the average share size the NYSE is handling now because it seems like more of my orders are being shipped away. I know about the "DNS" order type but i use mostly MKT orders. Thanks again.

by tony dey on July 19, 2007 6:17 PM

Hi Ray,

I have a couple questions that have been on my mind and am hoping you can shed light on for me.

1) Is there any work towards enabling the trading of ordinary shares listed on Euronext
on the NYSE?

For example, Unilever lists two ADRs, but there's no way currently to trade the ordinary shares on NYSE.

Wouldn't the development of this ability would give investors greater flexibility while enhancing competitive barriers?

2) Also, great to see the migration of ETFs to Arca's world-class system. Will specialists be involved at all with listed ETFs once they've migrated? Have you guys quantified the cost savings involved with this switch or is there a way to model this (for each ETF that moves to Arca there will be an incremental net savings of X per X)

3) Are shares that trade-away from NYSE but get done on Arca considered matched?

Thanks in advance for your insight. And as always, please keep up the great work -- "Exchanges" is one of my favorite reads!

barry

by barry on July 21, 2007 9:46 AM

Ray, I want to add one more thing. I really believe that once there is a substantial increase of price improvement & matching this will further stabilize the way the stocks trade and create much more confidence in the Hybrid. Then you will really see more human involvement and the true value of the floor as well as more traders buying & selling adding volume and making the NYSE a much better place to do business. The NYSE has to understand that right now alot of people are confused with your market and are on the sidelines which makes it appear that machines are taking thier place. Most stocks show a 100 shares up with very little liquidity and increased price swings on 100 share prints. All of us who trade on the NYSE are waiting for things to get better including those who work on the floor. Thanks

by tony dey on July 22, 2007 11:20 AM

I agree with you tony. Right now the nyse is a disaster. I watch some of the most liquid stocks in the market whip around on what seems to be little volume execution as the programs completely control the market.

I read an article a month or so back that speculated the specialists would walk by Labor Day if changes were not implemented. Any update on this Ray? What ever happened to the much talked about specialists incentives?

by Ron on July 23, 2007 10:55 AM

Tony -- Last I looked, average trade size was fewer than 400 shares. As you know, that's a result of decimals and algorithms in addition to market structure. Regarding more price improvement and matching, we hear you, and we're working on that as hard as we can.

Tony and Ron -- Further on that last point, please see my comment here.

Barry -- Checking on your questions and will be back to you.

by Ray Pellecchia on July 24, 2007 4:44 PM