CHAPTER SIX

MARKET MECHANICS

© 2001 South-Western College Publishing

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Outline

Placing Orders Order Information Flow Types of Orders Settlement Procedures

The Specialist and the Book The Specialist and the Spread Adjusting Limit and Stop Prices for Dividends

The Ticker Tape Format Accuracy Other Ticker Tape Information

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Outline

Types of Accounts Cash Account Margin Account Other Types of Accounts

Selling Short Rationale Criticisms Mechanics of a Short Sale Selling Short Against the Box

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Outline

Trading Fees The Costs of Trading The Commission Structure Full-Service Brokers Discount Brokers Electronic Brokers Current Events

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Placing Orders: Order Information Flow

Individual Investor

Broker1. Places order

4. Confirms trade

Stock Exchange

Brokerage FirmAccounting Operations

2. Submits order3. Confirms

trade

3. Confirms trade

5. Mails confirmation statement

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Placing Orders: Types of Orders

Market orders are to be executed as soon aspossible after reaching the exchange floor.

Limit orders must specify a price and a timelimit, e.g. “Buy 500 at $90, good till canceled.”

A stop order differs from a limit order in thatthe order is only executed if the specified price, called the stop price, is touched.Stop orders become market orders when the stop price is reached.

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Placing Orders: Types of Orders

The most important use of a stop order is to protect a profit. Moving a stop up behind a rising stock is called using a crawling stop order.

Other orders:- one cancels the other- all or none- fill or kill- stop limit

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Placing Orders: Settlement Procedures

The activities surrounding the transfer ofownership are called settlement procedures.

In the United States, stock and bondtransactions settle three business days after the trade date.

A number of market speculators engage in a practice known as a day trade, which involves buying and selling securities on the same day.

The Specialist and the Book

Specialists help maintain a fair and orderlymarket.

To tighten the spread in the market...

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BID ASK

Price Size Firm Price Size Firm

90 10 Specialist 90 10 Specialist 90 50 Paine Webber 90 5 DLJ 90 20 Merrill 90 10 AG Edwards 90 100 Kidder 91 35 Josephthal

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81

85

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The Specialist and the Book

Unless a customer indicates a contrarywish, limit and stop orders are automatically adjusted downward for the payment of a cash dividend.

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The Ticker Tape

Today, the tape is electronic, passing by on ascreen.

To accommodate the human eye, an upper speed limit is set for the tape. So, on heavy trading days, trade data can get backlogged.

Notices like data corrections, omissions, and news may also appear on the tape.

DE HRD PEP ASN C DIS 90 1/4 6s25 3/4 10,000s37 2s55 8 6s55.2s 1/8

Types of Accounts

In a cash account, an investor must come up with cash equal to the full value of the securities purchased.

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Cash Account

Assets Liabilities

Cash $23,089.76500 DE 45,000.00300 INTC 24,000.00100 RBD 3,000.00500 OCR 17,437.50 Equity $112,527.26

$112,527.26 $112,527.26

Types of Accounts

A margin account permits an investor to borrow part of the cost of investments from a brokerage firm.

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Margin Account

Assets Liabilities

500 DE $45,000.00 Margin $33,792.10300 INTC 24,000.00100 RBD 3,000.00500 OCR 17,437.50 Equity $55,645.40

$89,437.50 $89,437.50

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Margin Accounts: The Nature of the Debt

An investor must pay interest on amargin loan, until the debt is repaid from the eventual sale of the securities.

The base rate for these loans is called the broker’s call money rate.

The smaller the loan, the higher the interest rate.

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Margin Accounts: Fed Regulation T

Margin trading is governed by Regulation T of the Federal Reserve Board.

The initial margin requirement is the percentage an investor must pay toward new purchases.

The maintenance margin requirement determines how badly a position can deteriorate before the investor must deposit more money into the account portfolio.

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Margin Accounts: Buying Power Buying power is a measure of how much

more can be spent for securities without having to put up any additional cash.

balance

debit equity

t requiremen

margin initial

power

buying

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Buying power can be used to withdraw cash,

but the reduction in buying power will be greater than the amount of cash withdrawn.

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Margin Accounts: Margin Calls

margin emaintenanc

balancedebit value portfolio minimum

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The investor can deposit more assets (usually cash or cash equivalents), or some security position(s) can be closed out to reduce the amount of margin debt.

A margin call is a requirement to depositadditional equity into a brokerage account because the account equity fell below the maintenance margin limit.

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Margin Accounts: Variations

Some brokerage firms offer products that are similar to a traditional margin account, but offer additional flexibility to the customer.

Paine Webber, for instance, offers an account that allows a customer to borrow against the securities in their account for education, home improvement, or other similar uses.

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Other Types of Accounts

Bonds and income-producing securities can be in a separate account called an income account.

Convertible bonds may be segregated into their own account, as may government bonds or short positions.

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Selling Short

Short selling involves selling borrowedshares.

Rationale: Short sellers sell first and buy later.

Criticisms: pros - market exists - short selling helps offset inflationary margin buyingcons - short selling has a checkered heritage - downward pressure on price runs counter to public interest

Mechanics of a Short Sale

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A buys 100 shares of

XYZ

B wants to short 100 shares of

XYZ

B returns 100 shares of XYZ to

lender

D sells 100 shares of XYZ to B

B buys 100 shares of

XYZ

B sells 100 shares of

XYZ

C buys 100 shares of

XYZ from B

Broker borrows shares

Shares are held in

street name

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Selling Short against the Box

In a short sale against the box, the investor sells short shares that are simultaneously owned.

The box refers to the safe deposit box wherethe share certificate might be held.

This is a riskless strategy designed to shift a tax liability into the future.

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Trading Fees: The Costs of Trading

Explicit Costs These are the direct cost of trading and include brokerage fees and taxes.

Implicit CostsThese costs are especially important to institutional traders because of the size of the trades they typically make.Such costs include the bid-ask spread, the price impact of the trade, and the opportunity cost of being unable to execute the trade when you want to.

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Commissions are usually a function of the dollar amount involved, the number of shares in the trade, and a minimum figure.

A limit order that is filled over several days ischarged a separate commission for each day that a trade was made.

Brokers can discount their commission. Such a discount comes from the broker’s share of the commission.

Trading Fees: The Commission Structure

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Trading Fees: Broker Types

Full-service brokers provide personalized service to their clients.e.g. Merrill Lynch, PaineWebber

Discount brokers execute trades for their clients, and little else.e.g. Charles Schwab

Electronic brokers allow their clients to trade

via the Internet.e.g. E-Trade, Datek, Ameritrade

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Trading Fees: Current Events

The median annual broker compensation has nearly doubled in a decade.

A higher commission share may encourage brokers to trade via the NASDAQ system, but spreads are sometimes wider in the OTC market.

The official SEC position seems to be that acommission structure in which “more trades mean more commissions” tends to encourage active trading and may lead to account churning.

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Review

Placing Orders Order Information Flow Types of Orders Settlement Procedures

The Specialist and the Book The Specialist and the Spread Adjusting Limit and Stop Prices for Dividends

The Ticker Tape Format Accuracy Other Ticker Tape Information

28

Review

Types of Accounts Cash Account Margin Account Other Types of Accounts

Selling Short Rationale Criticisms Mechanics of a Short Sale Selling Short Against the Box

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Review

Trading Fees The Costs of Trading The Commission Structure Full-Service Brokers Discount Brokers Electronic Brokers Current Events