Brokerage

The darling of the day traders is ready to make its final curtain call. After the final bell on May 6, the most widely traded stock will finalize a reverse stock split that will see a tenfold increase in its share price, making it less attractive to short-term traders.Citi is the stock nearing the 10:1 reverse split, which will turn a $4.50 stock into a $45 stock overnight, thus raising the risk parameters for an issue that has helped legions of traders on Wall Street make a quick buck -- from upstairs prop traders to brokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering rules that could limit trading by market makers during topsy-turvy markets. Speaking at an industry conference last month, David Shillman, an associate director in the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, told attendees the regulator was mulling the imposition of "negative obligations" on dealers in certain circumstances.

As "limit up/limit down" moves closer to reality, the Security Traders Association is asking that many market participants--not just the exchanges--have input into possible amendments to the plan.

With shrinking commission wallets, many buyside firms are consolidating their broker lists. And in choosing which brokers to work with, they are looking for consistency and focus, according to a recent report.

Market function held up again on Wednesday, even as massive volatility swept across U.S. equities for the third day this week and investors flocked to exchange traded funds.

Chicago-based alternative trading system operator PDQ introduced parallel order posting capability into its smart order router. Equity traders can now send passive orders to multiple venues, both lit and dark, simultaneously and have these orders automatically rebalanced when a portion of the initial order is filled.

As part of a discussion among brokers over risk management practices that has been ongoing since the 'flash crash' of May 2010, an industry group is considering issuing guidelines that would require brokers to convert their customers' market orders into limit orders.

Howard Tai, a longtime trader turned consultant, believes that if a money manager is vigilant with its FX trading, it will do its clients right with higher returns

U.S. companies authorized $41 billion in stock buybacks last month, continuing a trend of using flush balance sheets to fund repurchase programs. According to a report by Birinyi Associates, September brought the total amount of buyback authorizations up to $407 billion year-to-date.

Knight Capital has consolidated its financial, technological and general operations under a single executive and moved its top technologist into a new role.