The NYSE’s “Hybrid Market” will be a floor-based facility (a
“slow” market) combined with an electronic platform (a
“fast” market). Technological advances, regulatory pressure, and
competition have forced the exchange to introduce an electronic platform, but
its success will not be known for some time. This article addresses some of the
broad issues involved. The Big Board is considered as a network that provides
price and quantity discovery. The article raises several questions about the
integration of fast- and slow-market components and presents evidence that in
one European electronic exchange, roughly half the euro value of trades does not
go through the electronic order book.