Instinet

Instinet

An electronic securities order-matching (trading) and information system that allows members (primarily professional traders and investors) to display bid and offer quotes for stocks, and to transact between themselves using brokers. As a global securities broker, Instinet enables over 1,500 institutional customers to trade securities in over 40 global markets.

Notes:

Instinet (Nasdaq: INET) is Wall Street's oldest and largest electronic communications network (ECN), and since it was acquired by Reuters Group (Nasdaq: RTRSY) in 1987, it and other ECNs have evolved into major threats to the established stock exchanges.

See also: Broker, Broker-Dealer, Electronic Communication Network - ECN, Institutional Investor, Online Trading, Reuters, Trade, Wall Street

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Instinet (Institutional Networks Corporation)

Computerized subscriber service that serves as a vehicle for the fourth market. "Instinet" is registered with the SEC. As a stock exchange it numbers among its subscribers a large number of mutual funds and other institutional investors linked to each other by computer terminals. The system permits subscribers to display bids and offers (which are exposed system wide for whatever length of time the initiating party specifies) and to consummate trades electronically. Instinet is largely used by market makers, but, nonmarket makers and customers have equal access.