insto's guide to screwing retail traders

I reckon that its about time that there was an open discussion on this forum about the mechanisms that are used to rip off (or at least serverely handicap) retail traders in the Australian market.

The fact that most casual traders wont even have thought about (some may not even be aware of) the impact of these mechanisms is a classic example of why there needs to be serious debate as to why they are allowed.

Undisclosed bids/offers

A SEATS operator can elect to place an undisclosed order any time the total value of the order exceeds $200,000 Note - this is optional NOT compulsory.

The arguement in favour of them basically revolves around priority and that a large buyer / seller should be able to take their place in a queue in tight trading conditions without the total volume of stock they require to trade being revealed and reflective of the fact that once they get to the front of the queue they cannot increase the volume of stock without losing their priority in the queue.

In practise any longer term trader will know that the very appearence of a 'u' order immediately impacts the market and that their use to spook the market one way or the other is rampant.

As a classic example u's placed just outside of the action in high volume stocks either to support buying or to cap a run have been seen by everyone.

The fact is that any serious large seller knows full well that the only way to maintain best selling price for n order is usually to 'dribble' small sell orders into the buying. A 'u' on the sell in most average stocks is an instant party stopper.

Sure, there are some situations where they have a legitimate use but after many years of watching their use (or rather abuse) I would contend that it is a very small minority of cases of actual employment.

Broker ID's

Why is it that everybody EXCEPT retail investors / traders know who is buying and selling and WHY is it illegal to tell you?

For example - in a high volume stock would it influence your trading decisions if you knew that they only buyers were discount brokers but the seller was someone like Merrills?

Or in a small stock doing reasonable volume for the first time in ages would it change your mind to trade if you knew that the buyer/s and the seller/s and the supporting depths as best you could determine were from the one on-line broker?

To me the rabid defense by the broking industry of broker ID's from the general public amounts to inside trading where only a proportion of the market players are in full possession of available information.

What legitimate reason exists to hide this information from retail when most everyone else knows?

Hopefully we can have a serious conversation here

Some thoughtful opinions would be welcomed.