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Guest Post: Is The NYSE Manipulating Trades?

Tyler Durden's picture




Submitted by Wall St. Cheat Sheet, Authored by Gilbert “Gman” Mendez, the Head Trader at SMB Capital.

All my pre-hybrid sketchy experiences with NYSE have left me with a
sour taste. If you were to sit at my desk, you would hear how I’d pay
higher ECN fees to EDGX or get worse fills rather than to give any
business to NYSE. I refuse to send any orders through them. And it is
not like my 50Mln shares a year would really make a huge difference.
Call me loco but I just don’t give them my business.

Although, while reviewing my numbers from last year I realized that
being overly stubborn about this cost me close to 40-50k — and that’s
just a low ball. Talk about a self-imposed rip. In the words of Chaz
played by Will Ferrell in Wedding Crashers: “What an Idiot!!”

So, coming into this year I made changes to my execution hotkeys. I
added NYSE sweep keys and I moved them up the ECN toggle list for
bidding and offering stock.  And while my ECN fees have come down
slightly, I am disturbed by the shenanigans of how my orders are
treated. Let me give you a couple of examples.

First, I must admit I have never been a fan of stop orders. But now
that I have way too many positions riding at the same time, it is the
only way I can manage my risk. Nonetheless, I only use orders triggered
by prints locally on my computer to route through ARCA. I have always
felt that stop orders that reside at the NYSE exchange can be
manipulated. The exchange can argue all they want about the floor
specialist not being able to see the orders, but I find it to be too
big of a coincidence that stops too often go off at some mysterious
prints. Check out what happened to the trader who sits next to me who
put in a NYSE buy-stop at 45.24 for 100 shares to cover his short.

Someone please explain how it is possible for a buy-stop that is
hosted at the exchange to go off when 45.24 prints but does so only by
printing the 100 shares that were in the buy stop. Coincidental? Maybe.
Sketchy? Very!

But wait let me show you my personal favorite these days. Getting my
orders front run by NYSE. Let me illustrate what this looks like on the
tape with the following short clip:

 




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Fri, 01/22/2010 - 18:32 | Link to Comment Cistercian
Cistercian's picture

 Excellent.Thank you Tyler.

 

 These people are criminals, it is just plain as day.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:14 | Link to Comment Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

Well you're just going to have to trust and respect them because they are once again going for the big hail mary pass before canning and being good boys and girls for long enough to gain enough respect and trust to abuse it again. Lets keep doing this forever. What else we got to do beside actually ENJOY LIFE WITHOUT A BUNCH OF STUPID HASSLE FROM STUPID PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER BUT DON'T CARE.

Just beause they can't ascend past your ass it just make you a bigger challenge and a longer stupid nihilistic endeavor.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 18:37 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 18:41 | Link to Comment Zé Cacetudo
Zé Cacetudo's picture

Very illustrative. Thanks.

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 01:26 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 14:15 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 18:42 | Link to Comment faustian bargain
faustian bargain's picture

That was a great video and he did a good job explaining what was going on, for us non-trader types. Really appreciate that.

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 01:25 | Link to Comment Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

Ya it was very good point in the many points of this drama. I just am itching for when summer hits and the haiti relief fraud starts coming out. It's going to get juicy then.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 18:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 01/24/2010 - 04:44 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:00 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:17 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 20:16 | Link to Comment Rick64
Rick64's picture

Don't feel bad the guy that reported Madoff twice sent them all the proof and basically laid the whole case out for them and look what happened. The SEC knows but the people that work for them will be working for major financial institutions when they leave so there is always a conflict of interest.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:17 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:18 | Link to Comment youngandhealthy
youngandhealthy's picture

Send the clip in an "open" e-mail to the SEC!!!! Let the world know....or someone to explain

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:39 | Link to Comment MarketTruth
MarketTruth's picture

What???  There is manipulation in the United States of America's stock market?!?!? No way, impossible!!! The law enforcers of America plus the upholding and upstanding people at the SEC, FDIC, NYFED, NASDAQ, CFTC, COMEX, PPT, OU812, FedRes, DOW, 867-5309 (Jenny)... would be sending people to jail immediately for manipulation.

Oh.... wait... i mean the above SUPPORTS manipulation and no one ever goes to jail (except stupid people who live like Kings for decades to then admit to fraud and spend maybe three years in jail like Madoff... who had to admit it because even with all the evidence in regulator's hands for years the USA never acted on a clearcut case of fraud).

Seriously guys, it is time to do a bank run. If you really want to stop this nonsense, remove all your money from the banks (except what is necessary to keep the lights on) and remove all Wall Street investments. Cash out now!

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
-- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 20:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 19:42 | Link to Comment You Cant Handle...
You Cant Handle the Truth's picture

Crime scene

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 21:21 | Link to Comment JohnGoodbutter
JohnGoodbutter's picture

my lord... this guy's been raped just under my eyes and i just can do nothing

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 21:39 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 21:46 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/22/2010 - 23:03 | Link to Comment Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

That's terrifying.  I've seen the same thing, though  --  I put in stop and limit orders and they get hit several points from where I placed the order.

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 23:12 | Link to Comment jailnotbail
jailnotbail's picture

High rolling it with my Scottrade account, I wouldn't have clue. But hey, chill, because it's the new zeitgeist. Everybody manipulates everybody. Consider this  bit of spam I received the other day.

Special Update From Graham Summers
------------------------------

-------------------------
Dear John,

Yesterday's action was a stark reminder to everyone
what can and will happen if the Government needs
to foster demand in US Treasuries.

The US has a MAJOR debt problem. But because the
entire world has woken up to the fact that Washington DC
is run by a bunch of money printers, fewer and fewer investors
are willing to lend us money for very long.

Because of this, the Feds need to find a way to get folks to
buy our debt so they can continue to spend like a bunch of drunken
sailors. And what better way than to let the stock market dive, forcing
investors to buy Treasuries as a safe-haven
?

Consider that yesterday the US issued $10 billion in one month
Treasury notes. The auction was so overbid that the notes ended
up yielding 0.0%.

Put another way, so many people piled into US debt yesterday that
Treasuries rose high enough that they were no longer yielding ANYTHING.
Investors were getting nothing for the right to have their money locked up
with Uncle Sam.

Where did all this demand come from?

S&P 500 PLUNGES

And we've got another $2 trillion in US debt to go.

That demand will have to come from somewhere...

and when it comes time to choose, which do you think the Feds will sacrifice? Your 401(K) in stocks or their ability to keep spending money around the clock?

Somehow I don't think it will be their ability to spend.

This situation is no joke and should be taken very VERY seriously.
If you're not already taking steps to protect your portfolio from
a potential downturn in stocks (not to mention the current US Debt Crisis),
I STRONGLY urge you to sign up for a risk-free trial to my paid
newsletter Private Wealth Advisory.

We're currently setting up three different portfolios to profit from ALL
of the Feds' money grabbing schemes.

Our "Correction Now" portfolio will profit from any short-term weakness
in stocks (the kind of action we've seen in the last week). Yesterday, while
the whole market collapsed, ALL of our positions ROSE.

Our "Kicking the Can" portfolio is set up to produce outsized gains
from any continued money spending/ corporate favoritism shown
by the World's Government (these are the companies that continually
receive unfair deals and kick-backs).

And finally, our "Coming Crisis" portfolio consists of short-term
trades that we're WAITING to buy when the next Crisis hits. It could
be next week, next month, heck even next year... but whenever it hits
we've got several investments that could all produce double if not triple
digit gains in a matter of weeks.

In fact, I am so confident in our current strategies that I will give you
30-days to explore them as well as my other insights, RISK FREE.

I'll give you one full month to sample my analysis and investment ideas
(including the specifics on when to buy and when to sell). If you're not
completely satisfied with Private Wealth Advisory at any point in that
30-day period, drop me a line and I'll give you a full refund of your
subscription NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

Yesterday may have been a surprise for most investors... but not for me
and my readers. Don't miss out!

Click Here to Learn More!

Graham Summers
Editor in Chief
Gains, Pains, & Capital

PS. I just published my latest issue of Private Wealth Advisory last night.
In it I detail three new investments that should register a "buy" signal within
the next week. To find out what they are, Click Here Now.

 

I figure when the meme starts showing up this particular context in sales pitches in my email, it' s pretty well saturated the whole culture.  I was going to for that kick-the-can portfolio, based on "continued money spending/ corporate favoritism shown by the World's Government (these are the companies that continually receive unfair deals and kick-backs)." But then I realized I already knew all the stocks that would be in it.   They don't bother to hide it anymore.

 

 

Tue, 01/26/2010 - 11:24 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 00:03 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 00:32 | Link to Comment David449420
David449420's picture

You see it. You know its happening. So, why are you still going there ?  If everyone stopped using the exchange, then it would die soon enough. 

You perpetrate its existence by continuing to trade within it. 

Fraud and criminality are clearly visible throughout large sections of the global financial systems.  Only by vocal opposition and "shunning" can this problem be fixed.

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 01:53 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 09:38 | Link to Comment MarketTruth
MarketTruth's picture

Hmm... what you just said sounds just like the scumbags who say sheeple/taxpayers MUST bail out bankster or said banksters will kill the economy.

i have two words for that.

One begins with an F
The other begins with a Y

 

Thomas Jefferson warned of the damage that would be caused if the people assigned control of the money supply to the banking sector, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. This issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of the moneyed corporations which already dare to challenge our Government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country"

--- Thomas Jefferson, 1791

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 02:02 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 02:10 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 03:11 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 06:43 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 06:43 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 08:45 | Link to Comment Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

I hope that's a rhetorical question. This is why I have completely stopped any and all trading in stocks. I don't own stocks. I don't trade stocks. Fuck stocks. Period. Starve the beast folks; don't trade in the casino known as the NYSE.

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 14:12 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 16:34 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 01/24/2010 - 14:25 | Link to Comment long-shorty
long-shorty's picture

1. That poster is a fucking idiot.

2. If he is the "head trader" at a firm that "trains" day traders, it nicely illustrates what a scam it is when a firm offers to train you how to day trade.

SMB is the legal scam here.

Mon, 01/25/2010 - 00:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 01/26/2010 - 13:24 | Link to Comment Ray Pellecchia
Ray Pellecchia's picture

Tyler -- Ray Pellecchia from NYSE Euronext here.  Naturally, the headline caught my eye, and I asked a couple of colleagues who are familiar with trading to take a look at the video and the market during that time (symbol RYN on 12 Jan.-2010 around 9:36-9:37 a.m.).

 

First, I want to make clear that this is not from Market Surveillance in NYSE Regulation.  If someone wants to bring something to their attention, the best way to do that online is via this link:  http://www.nyse.com/regulation/complaintsinquiries/1088808969148.html

Instead, this is the take from a couple of colleagues on our business side: 
 

The customer sent the NYSE an order to buy 100 shares of RYN on a stop at $45.21, at which time the NYSE's market was bid $45.07 for 400 shares, offered 100 shares at $45.10.  As you know, a stop is elected and become a market order if the stock trades at the stop price.

 

In the 45 seconds the order was on the NYSE book, a series of customer cancellations on the offer side and corresponding arrivals of buy orders in response to away market trades moved the NYSE quote up to a bid of $45.21 for 100 shares and an offer of 200 shares at $45.24.  At that time, a customer order to sell 200 shares at $45.21 arrived, immediate or cancel. The first 100 shares matched the 100 share limit order at $45.21, and the additional 100 shares immediately cancelled because they could not be filled.  This execution elected the standing stop at $45.21. The stop becomes a market order to buy, which was filled at $45.24, the NYSE ask. There was no involvement by the designated market maker (also known as the specialist) in any of the trades in question.

 

Hope that helps clarify it.  I didn't ask anyone to look at the ITT example because it looks like other commenters addressed it.  -- Ray

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 00:33 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!