Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Brokers Acting as Principals

Be careful that some of the brokerage transaction you make are just simple broker transactions. In many instances, the broker may be acting as a principal, selling you a security from his inventory, or perhaps buying the security into his inventory.

That could actually represent a very short period, an in-and-out transaction with another party. Nevertheless, the broker is technically not a broker but a dealer.

That is legal provided his markup is reasonable. In many instances a 5% markup is not acceptable when the security is traded in a liquid market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA has been attempting to fine tune the activity. ( See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)

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