

Quote from Tea:
The reason the mutual funds haven't sued is that they have been bought off by the order execution industry with soft dollars.
Soft dollars are kickbacks based on order flow. You pay for it through higher execution costs. Soft dollars are suppose to pay for research, software etc. but they are basically used for anything. The mutual funds then take the money they would have spent on research, software etc. and spend it on expense accounts, nice furnishings etc.
Everyone has been bought off in this system. Everyone except you the individual investor - you are not suppose to know these things so you can continue to be milked.
The only way I know to fight back is to constantly harangue the regulators - CFTC, SEC and copy your congressman. That is the most powerful leverage you have as an individual.
Players who have a stake in keeping things going as they are will try to discourage you from doing this. They will call you names, say you are a loser, wasting your time, blah, blah, blah.
In reality, this is the only way historically that individuals have gotten anything favorable in the markets.
Quote from Gene Weissman:
axeman,
Believe it or not the NYSE specialist actually has rules he must follow. I was a specialist clerk , in my younger days and one of my family members was a NYSE specialist. The specialist is monitored by NYSE stockwatch to make sure he/she makes a fair market.
Generally the NYSE specialist can only Buy stock on a minus- or
0- tick and sell on a Plus+ or 0+ tick. This means the NYSE stock specialist can only buy when the market goes down and sell when the market goes up. These rules help prevent the specialist from unfairly manipulating the stock. If the specialist wants to liquidate a position on a minus tick(when the stock is trending lower), he can only sell part of his postion(on a 0 minus tick-with a floor officials permission) and then he must participate on the next sale. There are many other rules in place to protect the public. The .01 spreads are the biggest concern for traders now, since the specialist can "better" the market and jump ahead of the public. I think if spreads were wider(say .05), it would be harder for the specialist to "jump" ahead of traders.
The specialist as a dealer , has a big advantage, since he sees all the order flow. However, many Specialists now are not making what they used to in a "bear" market and the cost of running a
Specialist firm is high. There are no "free" rides on wall street.
Gene Weissman
E-Brokerage, LLC
gene@ebrk.com