Subject: limit order wash trades
i hope this isn ' t too late . if you need to reach me , i ' m in the london office today and tomorrow .
i think the correct approach is to revise the functionality and add a line or two to the description of how limit orders work , an answer in the faq section , a line for the ' failed transaction ' screen and a script for the help desk . i ' m thinking of something to the effect of :
once a limit order has been placed by a counterparty , that counterparty will not be able to complete a transaction with enron in that product on the other side of the market at the price specified in the limit order . for example , if a counterparty enters a limit order to sell to enron at price x , that counterparty may not buy from enron at price x while the limit order is active .
note that this needs to be done on a counterparty basis , not at the sub user level . that needs to be clear from the language we use so i have avoided the chattier ' you ' and used counterparty .
the ' failed transaction ' screen could show the failure reason as :
' your company has an active limit order in effect at the price at which you attempted to transact . the limit order system does not allow you to transact with enron on both sides of the market at the same price simultaneously . '
if you want to keep it short , the second sentence is optional as long as the necessary descriptive language appears somewhere on the web site .
mark taylor
vice president and general counsel
enron wholesale services
( 713 ) 853 - 7459