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On April 29, 2003, the Zicklin School of Business hosted a trading conference titled, Coping With Institutional Order Flow. This conference was electronically recorded and later transcribed for this book. The text includes the edited transcript of the panel discussions and separate presentations by two major industry executives, Richard Ketchum' and Robert Mc Sweeney. As with the other volumes in this popular series, this book is not simply intended to be an historical record of the conference. We have edited the manuscript for clarity, perspective and context. New material was gathered in subsequent interviews with many of the panelists. Consequently, some remarks and passages in the text were altered and expanded and many footnotes were introduced. Our goal was to flesh out the dialogue and presentations and to keep the material as contemporary as possible. In doing so, we went to great lengths to preserve the essential nature of the original debate. We worked closely with the panelists in the editing process and took pains not to distort the meaning of their remarks. They have all approved the final draft of the manuscript. We thank them for their assistance and patience. \n my opening remarks at the conference, I suggested that effective handling of institutional order flow is one of the most important and difficult At the time of the conference, Richard Ketchum was President and Deputy Chairman at The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. Preface xiv challenges facing our equity markets today.

Handling the large orders of institutional participants presents some of the most complex problems for system design. How well are our current systems operating, and how effective are new facilities on the scene? To what extent is market quality impaired for all participants when institutional trading costs are not properly contained? Can institutional order flow be efficiently integrated with the orders of retail customers, or are separate facilities needed? What are the impediments to market structure change, and how might they best be overcome? These are some of the questions addressed, and in so doing, Coping With Institutional Order Flow considers major ways in which to improve the efficiency of our equity markets.