After reading a bunch of posts on ET with a healthy dose of skepticism about how the floor is losing their edge, I have to ask to those who have floor experience, is this remotely true? And if so, where is the power of being retail coming from?
The posts I have read (I don't remember the threads), generally indicate with decimalization, the bid/asks have shrunk significantly. Also, with the computers using pricing models and doing most of the market making, there isn't much use for the floor trader.
But the floor still has the edge no? Retail still can't buy on bid, sell on ask unless price changes even in the most liquid options. And even if the spread was 1 cent, that's still an edge. Who would leave free money lying around?
On a slightly related note, how exactly do these program MMs work? Do they try and capture the spread, or simply post the bid/ask? Given an bid of 2 and ask of 2.1, would these computers take my ask of 2.05, if I was exiting a position, just to make the market? I know a floor trader wouldn't take that because he would have no edge at the midpoint. Do they just provide liquidity or are automated versions of humans?
This question is for those who have worked on the floor. Other then the b/a spread, where else do MMs make their cash? Are they allowed to take positions independently or just profit off the spread + get flat before the close.
The posts I have read (I don't remember the threads), generally indicate with decimalization, the bid/asks have shrunk significantly. Also, with the computers using pricing models and doing most of the market making, there isn't much use for the floor trader.
But the floor still has the edge no? Retail still can't buy on bid, sell on ask unless price changes even in the most liquid options. And even if the spread was 1 cent, that's still an edge. Who would leave free money lying around?
On a slightly related note, how exactly do these program MMs work? Do they try and capture the spread, or simply post the bid/ask? Given an bid of 2 and ask of 2.1, would these computers take my ask of 2.05, if I was exiting a position, just to make the market? I know a floor trader wouldn't take that because he would have no edge at the midpoint. Do they just provide liquidity or are automated versions of humans?
This question is for those who have worked on the floor. Other then the b/a spread, where else do MMs make their cash? Are they allowed to take positions independently or just profit off the spread + get flat before the close.