Program trading encompasses a wide range of portfolio-trading strategies involving the purchase or sale of a basket of at least 15 stocks with a total value of $1 million or more.
For the first quarter of 2007, the NYSE’s program-trading report includes profiles of program trading whenever the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index (NYA) moves 180 points or more in a single direction during any one-hour period. During Feb. 20-23, there were no such periods.
In all markets, program trading by member firms averaged 1,874.3 million shares a day during Feb. 20-23. About 47.1 percent of program trading took place on the NYSE, 2.3 percent in non-U.S. markets and 50.7 percent in other domestic markets, including Nasdaq, the American Stock Exchange and regional markets.