Brokerage

Electronic trading is sweeping the industry, but when it comes to illiquid stocks, human beings remain important at some of Wall Street's largest firms.

New York Stock Exchange specialist LaBranche & Co. plans to roll out more sophisticated algorithms for trading in the Big Board's hybrid environment.

Clearers and prime brokers should be careful of new, relatively small hedge funds with an investment charter that grants the manager lots of leeway. With the new portfolio margining rules about to be implemented, some of these funds could get riskier.

The NASD is expanding its rules for front-running in the OTC market.

The NASD is expanding its rules for front-running in the OTC market.

The number of large blocks trading after the markets close is on the rise. Frustrated by the inability to execute large trades intraday, some institutions are turning to brokers to help them exit positions after the close.

The business of consulting to brokerage firms is about to get a shot in the arm. That's the view of Jim Leman, who recently joined Westwater Corporation, a consultancy in the capital markets space. Leman is best known in Wall Street circles as one of the founders of the FIX protocol while at Salomon Brothers more than a decade ago. Leman and a handful of others paved the way for the electronic trading revolution, creating a common language for electronic communications.

Majority owner Bear Stearns is in negotiations to purchase the 40 percent stake of New York Stock Exchange specialist firm Bear Wagner that it does not own.

Tim Brennan built his first automated options trading platform back in 2000, when he was a trader with Morgan Stanley. At the time, he was part of a team preparing the big brokerage for the brand-new world of electronic trading at the soon-to-be-launched International Securities Exchange. Flash forward seven years and Morgan Stanley is one of the largest options dealers in the country, and one of only seven primary market makers or specialists at the hugely successful ISE.

Wall Street's unique system of self-regulation just got streamlined by a recent vote of NASD members.

Over-the-counter dealers have four months to comply with new NASD rules that require them to report trades to the NASD's Order Audit Trail System, or OATS. Heretofore OATS applied only to Nasdaq securities. But last fall the SEC approved an NASD plan to extend compliance to OTC equities, notably OTC Bulletin Board and Pink Sheets securities. Compliance kicks in June 11.