NYSE Gaps, interesting thread.
Here is what I think:
Stock has bad news (Miss the earnings, warned for next year, CEO hit by a bus... whatever the news is, is irrelevant here), here is the specialist will do in the morning (assume he's flat last close-why wouldn't he?):
1st, he sees selling orders pile up on his desk before the open (hedge fund shorting, panic fund selling etc, Ron from CNBC interviewed a specialist, and thats what he said), he will gap down to the level that he think is safe to buy (overshooting), the shorters from last night will cover at this point (no one can resist the instant profit overnight), then you see stock trying to close its gap.
2nd, the specialist has no interests in the stock, the only reason he buy at the open is to provide a market(orderly? don't know) and sell on the way up when shorters cover their shorts at the open hour.
3rd, once the shorters are done covering, the stock will go down again (those who longed at the open with the specialist taking their profits and creat the 2nd wave of panic selling), and the specialist are right in the short position (he sold on the way up), this is his game plan.
Now is the tough part:
Recently I noticed that, the fund don't sell at the very open, but sell the 1st bounce up, the specialist will be caught by this, so he has to drop the bid fast to protect himself, so for a gap-down, I start to short first if I can get in (shorted ene yesterday, took some profit), then I watch for a bottom to go long.
Note: Does this always work? hell no, nothing does in the market, gap downs are different, when it gap-down hard (>20%), short it first has a better chance, small gap downs are fadable (go long with the specialist at the open). On the other side, shorting the gap-ups seems to have better chance.
Last, NYSE vs. NAS:
No pre-market or ECNs on listed, but tons of shares to borrow...
Getting a fill is harder and slower and the spread is wider...
Less partial fills on listed, good for the size trade...
Good luck