EQUITY TRADING

Nasdaq/OTC Trading

No marketplace has experienced more wrenching changes in the last three or four years than NASDAQ, from the order-handling rules instituted by the SEC to the proliferation of Alternative Trading Systems and ECNs. Likewise there's no market that engenders as much anxiety among market professionals, precisely because of its multiplicity of participants and trading systems. Make the wrong call, and the most carefully crafted trading strategy can implode. All of which makes the trust our clients place in our over-the-counter trading team's ability to help them craft advantaged block executions Weeden's most valuable asset.

Focused entirely on serving the Nasdaq/OTC trading needs of institutional investors, Weeden's Nasdaq/OTC desk has earned a Street-wide reputation for finding hidden liquidity, utilizing both traditional and non-traditional outlets. Daily dealings in the Nasdaq/OTC market's proliferating pools of alternative liquidity provide the Weeden team with the "local knowledge" and insights necessary to advise clients on the most advantageous ways to structure their trades. The firm's experienced Nasdaq/OTC sales force crosses many blocks inside of spreads, thereby minimizing the market impact of institutional-sized orders in markets that are all-too-frequently thin. Well-appreciated by clients, this ability to trade nimbly and to discreetly discover liquidity drives much of the over-the-counter team's business. While Weeden makes markets in some 350 Nasdaq issues, 40% of the desk's business is in unlisted small and mid-cap stocks in which it doesn't make markets; issues in which clients are relying on Weeden's Nasdaq/OTC team to create the other side of a trade without driving prices.

In volatile stocks and in fast-paced markets where the requirement is speed, Weeden's Nasdaq/OTC trading team comes in second to none, with its proven ability to get in and out of positions quickly-but without sacrificing either the intelligence or the adroitness of their trades. When mere creativity, finesse and alacrity don't suffice, Weeden stands ready to commit the firm's ample capital to facilitate trades and generate volume where it might not otherwise exist.

The result: Weeden customers get Nasdaq/OTC trades done.