In the option market, the market makers are quoting options to capture a profit from the bid-ask spread. Apart from this, sending bids and offers to the market serves another practical goal. Euronext Liffe is charging less when you are providing liquidity to the market. It’s not unusual for a lot of market makers to [...]
You’ve got to give them credit for this – the public relations department at Euronext is doing a great job. Confronted with a problem (empty trading floor), solving the problem (new tenants) and presenting the affair as great news ; “traders returning in numbers to Beursplein 5“. Royal princes Maxima will sound the opening bell [...]
I confess, in the light of the current market crisis and US downgrade this isn’t the most spectacular news. Market makers have been competing for the primary market maker (pmm) licenses in a few stocks. This head to head competition is always interesting, as the market maker with the best quoting performance is selected. But [...]
Outsiders usually have difficulty distinguishing a broker from a market maker, and this time it’s no different. Strange thing is even Euronext is confused. Every firm is a trading firm. Wouldn’t surprise me if some people at Euronext have the title “trader” on their business cards themselves. Anyway, the trading floor at the exchange building was [...]
Last post I mentioned a new Dutch community site for retail investors. It’s looking allright but is still seriously lacking critical mass. Anyway, the site is launched by online broker Binck/Alex and although they are evolving into a straight competitor of Euronext’s stock trading platform – the relationship between them is fine. In this column [...]