Brokerage

They're no more than electronic messages at this point. But a growing number of trading executives argue that indications of interest should be looked at as firm quotes that can be automatically traded against by the buyside."The nirvana is executable IOIs," says Robert Moitoso, head of the FIX division at NYFIX, an institutional broker and technology provider whose IOI dissemination product has been distributed via the NYFIX Marketplace network for more than two years. "The sellside can spend a lot of money distributing IOIs to their client base. They want to know if they're getting bang

Leon Lants heads equity trading at broker Stephens Inc., based in Little Rock, Ark. He spoke to Traders Magazine about issues that affect a regional brokerage.

In this written for Traders Magazine item, author John Ryan examines what banks accept bitcoin and are willing to transact in the nascent currency.

Gerard Mastrianni's memory lives through an event he started that has helped to raise millions of dollars for cancer research. This year's Trading for a Cure will be Feb. 3 (www.tradingforacure.org).

What does the current crash mean for volume in the coming months and years?

In the wake of Bank of America's 11th-hour acquisition of Merrill Lynch last Sept. 15, the combined firm managed to merge its two equities electronic trading groups without big drama. Merrill handily got the lead role in the combination.

Agency block traders JonesTrading launched a real-time international desk that is run from a new Charleston, S.C., office.

Thomas Weisel Partners expects to offer filtered sponsored access for high-frequency trading clients during the first quarter of 2010.

Knight Capital Group's hire of 15 exchange-traded funds traders and salespeople last month from Newedge USA, the U.S. arm of the big French derivatives and commodities brokerage, speaks to the lasting growth and popularity it sees in ETFs. The giant market maker has taken note of the rise of a new ETF customer base: traditional asset managers.

As far as books for Wall Street professionals go, there have been plenty written about investment banking, trading techniques, investing and the securities industry's back-office operations. But there are very few that take the reader onto the trading floor.