CdnTrader: Amen, Brother: you have distilled the entire arguement into it's simplest form.
Maverick: I hit the bid at 10:20 am CST. Got it all done at one price. It was at the quoted price in the pit - yeah, I have a squawk box clerk on the floor. I almost always "give up the edge" to get into a trade and to take a loser. I almost always wait to get hit or lifted to take a profit. In the Note Pits, I never offered Notes if I was Bullish Yield Curve. Never. With headsets, the tiering on the new financial floor at the CBOT, and automated order routing - the pits have become too efficient for locals to buy bids and sell offers in Chicago. As soon as you get them, they're bad. If you trade size, you've got a giant bullseye on your forehead. Locals can still make money - but in the pits with split liquidity it's really become difficult.
As far as the S&Ps go, I know the size institutions. MS and REFCO go where the size is, and they go both places at once. Coreography in motion. Splitting the liquidity is bad and the size traders hate it.
MAVERICK, I'M GOING TO SAY THIS ONLY ONCE. IN THE PIT, ALL THE LOCALS PUT THEIR HANDS DOWN AS SOON AS ONE OF THEIR OWN GETS LOADED UP. AND THEN THEY TURN ON HIM. AND ANOTHER THING - WHEN THEY REALIZE THE PAPER IS GOING TO MARKET, THEY RACE THE BROKER. I REPEAT, THEY RACE THE BROKER. LOCALS WANT THE GOLDEN LAYUP (LIKE ON FRIDAY, A BROKER QUIETLY WANTING TO BUY FROM HIM AT MARKET). AND ITS GETTING HARDER TO COME BY.
With the screen, what you see is what you get.
Besides, the Genie is out of the bottle and the cork won't go back in.
Listen, boys, it's all about minimizing the slippage and the parasites.