October 29, 2009
Why, if you will prohibit or restrict dark-pool trading (DPT), do you allow after-hours trading (AHT)? AHT is every bit as discriminatory against a large segment of the market participants as is DPT. AHT allows a small segment of participants to profit from after-market-close news and announcements, and it allows that small group to set prices at open that are often out of step with the “real” price that is realized after the broad market is able to weigh in, which provides, again, significant gains for the AHT participants which are unavailable to the broad-market participants. After-hours trading should be immediately abolished, or all markets and brokerages should be mandatorily extended to cover those hours.
Malcolm L. Kantzler
Western Hills, Cincinnati, OH