Brokerage

Fewer is better. That's the message brokers have been hearing from clients over the last year, as buyside traders have reduced the number of algorithms on their desktops.

The battle between the exchanges over the electronic trading of complex orders is heating up. NYSE Amex Options is reporting the number of contracts traded on its complex order book has shot up dramatically since the beginning of the year, positioning the exchange as a contender in what had been a three-legged race.

Making sure brokers are in compliance with the proposed Volcker Rule is not going to be easy, according to an official with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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.

Greg Voetsch has left Knight Capital Group. According to the big market maker, Voetsch "voluntarily resigned his position to pursue other opportunities." The firm named Joe Mazzella, formerly head of institutional block trading, as interim head of institutional equities.

Jefferies & Co., following two years of decline, reports its large domestic stock trading business is stabilizing.

Nasdaq OMX is challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission over its decision to disapprove a Nasdaq proposal for a novel pricing strategy aimed at retail brokerages. The exchange operator has engaged Eugene Scalia, a partner at attorneys Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, to represent it in its quest to win the right to package two products under one pricing scheme.

Agency-only broker Cheevers & Co. has hired Ryan Peterson as its new chief compliance officer. He was previously CCO for Fox River Execution Technology.

Lime Brokerage, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wedbush, which caters to the high frequency crowd, is buying Cactus Trading. Cactus provides a high-performance, low-latency, multi-asset-class trading engine, designed for efficient implementation, testing and deployment of algorithmic trading strategies geared towards HFTs.

Sanford C. Bernstein is growing again. The broker-dealer, a unit of giant money manager AllianceBernstein, is reporting increasing revenues this year. The firm credits "higher transaction volumes" for its success, partly due to a strong August.