PROBE OF NYSE SPECIALISTS EXPANDS TO COVER 5 YEARS (co-opting customers' orders alleged)

NY POST ^ | December 3, 2003 | JENNY ANDERSON

[Liz]

The Securities and Exchange Commission is widening its investigation of New York Stock Exchange specialists and has requested data from the Big Board for trades in 1998 and 1999, The Post has learned.

In mid-September, the exchange announced it would bring disciplinary action against five of its seven specialist firms for improper trading in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The infractions allegedly included trading ahead and getting in the middle of customer orders.

[Liz]

The SEC has requested data from 1998 and 1999 in three categories: audit trail data, which match "buy" and "sell" prices against the tape that records all trades; systems orders, which come through the central order system; and quote-assisted time stamps, which show the time an order was presented to a specialist, sources said.

See.......that's why you should never leave a paper trail.........(/sarcasm).

[TaxRelief]

The NYSE's original investigation looked at trades executed in 30-second increments, while the SEC looked at 10-second increments - a time frame few specialists understand, because there is no 10-second execution rule.

This stuff can't be graphically represented with tenth of a second (or better) sampling? What decade are they operating out of?

[razorback-bert]

the amount investors lost from specialists trading ahead of orders -was estimated at $150 million

Chump change.