Monday, January 28, 2013

Traders Make Peace With Computers




From a WSJ report: Years after an electronic-trading onslaught began decimating their ranks, Wall Street traders are making peace with computers.   Pressured by uncertain markets, soft growth and tough new rules, big banks are finding new ways to boost the profitability of their large stock-trading businesses—in many cases by feeding trades from computerized networks to the trading floor.

On a recent day on Barclays stock-trading desk in Manhattan, an electronic platform posted a notice that Barclays was selling a large block of Pfizer Inc. PFE +0.56% shares.

In recent years, a computer typically would have swiftly matched such an order with a buyer, sidestepping trading floors altogether.  But soft trading volume has left many traders unable to move stock as quickly as they might like. That is one reason why Barclays connected its recently launched DirectEx platform to its trading floor. The move paid off when a client who was buying 150,000 shares on the electronic network decided, after chatting with a Barclays salesman, to take an additional 150,000 shares…..

Wait...wait..there's more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323644904578268042474248594.html

No comments:

Post a Comment