In my experience trading Liffe and Eurex (to a greater extent on Liffe) is the charts look good with lots of fluid volume throughout the day, however when you go trade you end up perplexed by bad fills. I think what goes on is the big players call each other and then report the trade to the exchange. If they do it on the screen they will move the market. On FDAX and GBL it is less noticeable because there is so much liquidity but it still happens.
On the Chicago contract with the big players in the pits they are able to feel each other out and get an idea of what the market will bear. I would think many of the big trades that mcurto talks about are a fill in the pits followed by a punch on the screen
I guess the point is that I think pits spill liquidity on to the screen from the "wholesale" or "upstairs" market that wouldn't be there in a strictly electronic market. Pits also seem to be a better way to trade spreads. Add to that they are a useful redundancy and I think they will be around for years to come
On the Chicago contract with the big players in the pits they are able to feel each other out and get an idea of what the market will bear. I would think many of the big trades that mcurto talks about are a fill in the pits followed by a punch on the screen
I guess the point is that I think pits spill liquidity on to the screen from the "wholesale" or "upstairs" market that wouldn't be there in a strictly electronic market. Pits also seem to be a better way to trade spreads. Add to that they are a useful redundancy and I think they will be around for years to come