Kreslik.com - traders community since 2006

Now for a long time I have had a problem with specialists and market makers, especially in futures markets but in equities as well. If you realize anything about the markets at all, you know that there is some guy on or working in transition with the floor of exchanges who is making money off your trades.

I'm not talking about commissions, businesses who take care of your order for you deserve their income but rather i'm referring to the hundreds of times the price seems to go right to your stop then take off afterwards, or your order doesn't get filled at the bottom because mysteriously somebody else is picking up all the shares/contracts at that point. These guys are raking in the cash from your loss, they have the tools to do it, and no matter how crooked it may be, nobody cares.

I recently also found it interesting that I could not name a single specialist on the floor of the NYSE. You would think that in all these years of trading, somebody somewhere would interview one or refer to them regularly on the news, but once again mysteriously these very powerful (in terms of trading) people are nowhere to be found.

Yesterday my itching got the best of me and I decided I would call the Bank of America specialist group to see if I could find out who the specialist is for The Coca-Cola Company. I had to go through about 5 people, all who claimed the information was not publicly available, then after some heavy social engineering, I was able to persuade one of these fellows I was working for a brokerage firm in Atlanta that keeps a yearly rating on stocks where one factor is the specialist. Reluctantly after many more questions I got my answer:

Frank Smyth: Regularly designated specialist for The Coca-Cola Company.

So what is the point behind all this? I figured some of you may like to know who's screwing you, or maybe I just brought this fact to your attention for the first time. Other than that, no point at all. My interest just peaked as to how obscure these powerful and VERY wealthy people really are.

jh,

interesting article.

Much have been written about specialists and there are even entire strategies based on observing the price behavior around the levels where "specialist is probably lurking". For instance, have you read Day trade online by Chris Farrell?

Almost the whole book deals with how to get the better of the specialist.

You write you have found regularly designated specialist for The Coca-Cola Company being Mr. Frank Smyth.

Frankly, I suspect that he might be just one of the notorious agents Smithes we know so well from Matrix:



Interestingly enough, agent Smith chases Neo in Matrix just as the specialists may chase traders using Neo and the MarketMatrix..

..too many coincidences..

jhtumblin wrote:after some heavy social engineering, I was able

This is really awesome. I don't think you should stop there. Try to obtain Mr. Smyth's contact information. Find contacts for several specialists and find out how, if at all, they are related. Perhaps they are Masons. Perhaps there is a resource that may only be uncovered by seeking information on these relationships. hack the planet.

4x=0 wrote:Find contacts for several specialists and find out how, if at all, they are related. Perhaps they are Masons.

Or worse, they might be Republicans..

mmmm 3 years later and I wondered the same thing in my recent observation of the trades I place and watch in amazement like I am the only one there and they "gotcha" my trades.

Gary