The Immediacy Implications of Exchange Organization
The paper introduces a connection between the needs of exchanges to respond
to the immediacy needs of their clientele and the need to manage the credit risks
faced by exchange members. Queueing theory is used to represent the
opportunity loss suffered by brokers engaging in multiple activities: order-flow
origination and its intermediation. The role of market-making locals is depicted
as enabling specialization. Brokers focus on originating order flow and locals on
fulfilling intermediation needs. The capacity to specialize is constrained by the
availability of creditworthy members acting as locals. This results in a tension
between pursuit of immediacy and managing inter-member credit exposure. Two
exchange rules, tick size and price limits, are evaluated for their effects in
resolving this tension.