Competition in a Consolidating Environment

Competition between market centers is a driving force for innovation, dynamic growth, and reasonable pricing structures. Consolidating the order flow amasses liquidity, sharpens price discovery, and lowers trading costs. Can competition remain vibrant in a consolidated environment? How does inter-market competition play out with respect to trading decisions and listing decisions? What will the primary sources of competition be in the future? What impacts will follow from the NYSE's acquisition of Archipelago, and NASDAQ's acquisition of Inet? Will exchanges further consolidate in Europe? What does consolidation imply about the efficient use of technology, the effective handling of institutional order flow, and overall market quality? These are some of the questions that were addressed at the conference and elaborated on in this book.


The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators, and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.