V.16:8 (375-378): Daytrading Stocks by Mark Conway

Many traders in the stock market are moving to short-term approaches and taking advantage of today's technology. Here's a walk through the basics.

Welcome to the battlefield of electronic daytrading. The confluence of technology and trading has created a network of daytraders with access to real-time quotes, news and instantaneous executions. Of all markets that daytraders have access to, NASDAQ (the North American Stock Dealers Automated Quotation system) has emerged over the past several years as a primary trading arena. Each NASDAQ stock is represented by a group of market makers and electronic communication networks (ECNs) that compete for bids and offers. Market makers are represented by institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. ECNs are private trading networks that are offered to the public through a limited number of brokers. These brokers give traders access to the Small Order Execution System (SOES) — Instinet, SelectNet, the Island and others.