Call Auction Trading: New Answers to Old Questions

This book is based on the proceedings of The Electronic Call Auction: New Answers to Old Questions, a conference hosted by the Zicklin School of Business on May 16, 2000. The text includes the edited transcripts of the panel discussions and separate addresses by three major industry executives Douglas M. Atkin, formerly President and CEO, Instinet Corporation; Kenneth D. Pasternak, formerly President and CEO, Knight/Trimark Group, Inc., and William J. Brodsky, Chairman and CEO, Chicago Board Options Exchange. The electronic call auction is an important trading vehicle in many market centers around the world, but is not well understood in the US. What are call auctions? How should they be designed and integrated with continuous trading in a hybrid market structure? As call auctions play a more central role in the US markets, how will they affect market quality in terms of transparency, order flow consolidation, and price discovery? These and other critical questions were asked at the conference while the efficiency of the US markets was broadly assessed.