Quote from RedManPlus:
Nice head fake.
alanm, you just changed the discussion from the NYSE to ECNs.
"Backing away" or failing to maintain a firm quote by Specialists is common.
Here is excert from SEC versus CHX:
<IMG src="http://www.pathcom.com/~gzt/BackingAway.jpg">
This is ** just ONE ** co-Specialist with 113 violations.
Must have been 1000s upon 1000s overall.
Here is the link:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/34-48566.htm
The Chicago Stock Exchange did absolutely nothing about it.
The SEC had to ** litigate ** for months/years to bring pressure to bear on the CHX.
The NYSE is far more powerful... and is, effectively, a law unto itself.
Only someone like Spitzer could take on the NYSE and it's Specialists.
rm+
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http://www.thememoryhole.org/corp/finance/sec_amex_report.htm
See link.
RedMan: You are on the right track to get pissed about this issue. The link above shows how the SEC knew that option arbitrageurs were the recipients of at least hundreds of thousands of SEC Firm Quote violations. The U.S. options exchanges chose not to honor quotes because they didn't want arbitrage between the option exchanges. The SEC actually caught one of the U.S. option exchanges red-handed in falsifying reports to the SEC to cover up the issue. The SEC still did nothing! The SEC will actually attack and repel the *public*, whom they are charged with protecting, in certain circumstances where it will assist larger financial institutions.
Nevertheless, as they said in "Animal House", "don't get mad, get even." The SEC cannot repel the public in a court of law. The lawyers representing the option arbs just got a final judgement against the U.S. option exchanges for $43 million - on antitrust grounds. The arbs suffering the SEC Firm Quote violations have their own, unique lawsuit where they are likely to recover millions more.