Waverunner1 Thursday, 05/26/16 02:35:35 PM
Re: None
Post # of 149140
Market Maker VERT showed up prominently on Level II sell side on Monday.
They have been hitting the ask hard (currently on the inside ask with 13,200 for sale at $1.52.... left from a larger order). If the SEC refers to them as "a market maker who abuses their market
making obligations and manipulates stock prices for profit" I think it greatly increases the odds that they are an aggressive short seller.
edit: actually between posting elsewhere and here it looks like they hit the bid with 11,000 shares from that order (transacted at $1.50) and slid back to $1.53 with the rest).
Quote:
The Vertical Trading Group, LLC ( CRD #104353, NewYork, NewYork) submitted a Letter of
Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured, fined $25,000 and required to revise
its written supervisory procedures regarding the One Percent Rule; the dissemination of quotations to
vendors; monthly order execution information; SEC Regulation SHO’s locate requirements; the
acceptance of short sale orders for threshold securities; maintaining identical quotes; market order
protection; best execution for block orders, not held orders and orders with special pricing terms or
conditions; reporting the capacity in which trades are executed; ensuring the accuracy of trades
reported on the member’s behalf; the tick test; and books and records. Without admitting or denying the
findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to
properly identify orders as short sale orders and, therefore, failed to report to the NNTRF the correct
symbol indicating whether transactions were buy, sell, sell short, sell short exempt or cross for
transactions in reportable securities, and to properly mark the orders as short. The findings stated that
the firm’s supervisory system did not provide for supervision reasonably designed to achieve
compliance with applicable laws, regulations and FINRA rules concerning the One Percent Rule; the
dissemination of quotations to vendors; monthly order execution information; Regulation SHO’s locate
requirements; the acceptance of short sale orders for threshold securities; maintaining identical
quotes; market order protection; best execution for block orders, not held orders and orders
with special pricing terms or conditions; reporting the capacity in which trades are executed;
ensuring the accuracy of trades reported on the member’s behalf; the tick test; and books and
records. The findings also stated that the firm failed to produce documentation that it enforced its
written supervisory procedures concerning the marking of order tickets and locate requirements. The
findings also included that the firm failed to report the correct symbol to the NNTRF or OTCRF
indicating whether the firm executed transactions in reportable securities in a principal, “riskless”
principal or agency capacity. (FINRA Case #2006004088101)
(Note: VERT is widely recognized by investors as a market maker who abuses their market
making obligations and manipulates stock prices for profit. They are the firm the less than
reputable clients trade through when they want a “job done” and this enforcement case, despite
the paltry fine, illustrates their willingness to avoid the rules.)
https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-08-09/s70809-3684.pdf
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