Quote from slickshal:
whats the overall attitude about the hybrid system and what what kind of impact will it have on the prop. trader?
i just left the floor of the nyse. i was a clerk for many years. the way people feel down there, especially floor brokers and clerks is there days are numbered.
maybe 1 or 2 years at the most. a lot of lay-offs are happening as we speak... me being an example.
specialist firms are doing the same.. labranche just laid off 18 employees... 7 specialists and the rest clerks..
my take is its going to make it harder to tell whats going on in the crowd.
u see the way it works is... u have the open book which is the public orders.. and it'll be the only quote you will see... and the you'll have a broker quote, which represents the floor broker amount he's looking to trade.. its called the replishment amount. and then the specialist column... if he has a position he wants to trade, he must publish it here.
now the floor broker can publish on the open book or the broker quote but you will only see his open book amount.
so a example would be if a floor broker offers stock at the fig and u see all the stock trading at the fig.. there could be a broker replishment amount quoted at the fig still and that would trade if there's still a buy interest coming in. basically , the only way the floor broker can get involved on the print is if he posted stock on the broker column... in other words, he must reveal his had or risk missing out on prints. the most important aspect is.. this is happening w/o the specialists' control.
the specialists job would still be the same when there is a one sided situation.. and he needs to step in the accomadate an order, usually at a discount to him. but if he wants to trade his position( mind you.. this is the most important thing on his mind..his p&l, not the public orders.. always has been always will) he must publish...
this can get somewhat complicated.. i hope i wasnt talking in circles... bye for now