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The market maker would say that there was a SOES order ahead of an incoming customer order, allowing the market marker not to trade, even if there was no SOES order. |
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Market makers used the term SOES ahead to avoid execution of an undesirable trade for even a good customer. One time Salomon Brothers, a major and credible market maker, used the SOES ahead excuse to back away from a trade when my company called Salomon on the telephone to do a trade because, in fact, the SOES system had been down for 20 minutes. Market makers have told traders I know that an All-Tech SOES order was ahead of their order even when All-Tech was not in the market for a particular security. |
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The Changing Slant Of The Media |
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Initial news coverage inflamed the market makers' story of the activities of the SOES bandits. Newspaper coverage was so slanted in favor of the industry that it was like King John's royal court proclamations reporting on the daily activities of green-clad misfits in Sherwood Forest. |
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Of course, some reporters may have had a secret agenda. What biased reporters write isn't very interesting because it's predictable and normally going to be wrapping fish a day later. In retrospect, however, it does seem to me that some reporters were returning favors to their friends at various market makers. |
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Accusing a reporter of being semibiased is like accusing a poker player of being a little bit of a cheat. With full benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I could now feed some words back to a certain reporter who was very sympathetic to the market makers' fables. |
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If a reporter is investigating a story and goes into it with open eyes, it is not difficult to quickly see who is being forthright and who has something to hide. Fortunately, there are many reporters who do maintain high ethical standards |
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