Was Andover bought out last week?

[Bullet]

Will any of this merger stuff affect the retail customers at Andover???

 

[mikep]

I wonder if the on-site traders will be displaced

 

[VOLUME]

Sunguard wants the self clearing part of Andover and The Hammer software.

 

[Bullet]

Any word if the firm rumored to be purchasing Andover will alter Andover's current reputation of extremly low commission's?

 

[calibertrader]

From a reliable source there is truth to the rumor. They told me that they are in the final stages of the agreement, and Sunguard wants to spin the day trading area out. Other then that, there's no more news. I will post it once I hear it.

Maybe the New York or SD offices of Lynx can provide more info.

 

[Bullet]

rtharp (or other lynx member)
What is your take on this whole takeover stuff. Will any of this affect the customers. I called Andover today and the guy I spoke with said he knew nothing of the deal, But I am assuming he wouldn't have said anything one way or the other.

 

[trader963]

They want to go after the hedgefund business like some of the other dat brokers. Most firms can care less about the small traders they are more of a pain than they are worth. People crying about commissions, the software problems, tech help........

We dont want to deal with the small traders anymore. It's all about assets undermanagement the account minimum may become 500,000

 

[jaredand]

Quote from Bullet:

Any word if the firm rumored to be purchasing Andover will alter Andover's current reputation of extremly low commission's?

With these types of situations in general, things will change. Just like the previous buyout in this industry.

 

[trader963]

Quote from VOLUME:

Sunguard wants the self clearing part of Andover and The Hammer software.

Sunguard already self clears

http://www.carrscott.com/Sunguard.pdf

 

[calibertrader]

The best case scenario for Andover traders is if Sunguard retains them. Then they won't face any type of problems. But since the rumor has Sungaurd wanting to discard the traders, here's what they may face:

1. The swith over to another firm could possibly create problems, since all the lines would need to be re-routed, which could take some time, and software would need to be changed. There could be some time off from trading.
2. Since Hammer would now be owned by Sunguard, the traders would have to learn a new package. For example if the prop area was sold to Worldco, then the traders would have to learn Belzberg, Generic uses REDI +. This would pose a problem, since none of those are hot key based, except for REDI, but mainly for nasdaq.

My suggestion, look for another firm, from what I understand, these types of changeovers don't go over well.