BARRON'S: Barron's Mailbag: Bring Back Fractions

Hey he could be right, my own theory is that volume over the last year dried up largely because Stewart and his boss could no longer daytrade Kmart around with their ameritrade account after KM's slide and subsequent bankruptcy announcement.

Plus Stewart probably isn't trading much anyway having by now probably married that rich girl from with the big swimming pool.

Atleast that Barrons guy has a theory. I still here some people call their LTBH losses "bad luck". LOL.
 
Originally posted by AAAintheBeltway
so if 1/8's or 1/4's would be an improvement, why not 1/2's and whole dollar spreads, that should really help the market.
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Why stop there? I say let's mandate 10 point minimum spreads, with harsh penalties for any pikers who split the bid/ask such as torture on the rack, or decapitation. That will surely cure the market of all its woes. Any stock that is currently under $10 (90% of the Naz) can only go up!!!!!
 
there's actually some common sense behind this theory. there are way less market makers these days, which causes a major decrease in liquidity. i'm sure a major reason people are no longer willing to make markets is that the profit potential is no longer there. i'd rather pay the spread to the mm's and have increased liquidity.
 
so the decreased liquidity is all about pennies. it has nothing to do with a current bear market, a disdain for stocks that borders on disgust, and the fact that 1998-2000 saw unsustainably high liquidity levels due to public excess in the supernova phase of a raging bull, making the current drop completely relative.

i see this developing into another 'woe is me' thread.

no thanks....
 
obviously there are several reasons for the decrease in liquidity. i believe that the change to pennies is just one of the exacerbating causes.
 
bottomline, one cent increments have drastically effected scalping and the only group that seems to have benefited is the specialist. The targeted beneficiary, i.e. joe public, has not benefited "one penny". so make fun of the post that started this thread but it is more accurate than some of the following responses.
 
actually, i believe nobody has benefited. this has definitely not benefited the specialist's. when we trade in 1/16ths they could easily make 6cents on most orders, and 12.5 cents when we traded in 1/8ths. it has severally hurt traders and i've seen no benefit to the public.
 
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