Recent Mastertrader.com Announcements

December 12, 2003

Please be aware that if you place an ARCA Listed Stop Order either pre-market or before the stock opens, the ARCA Exchange may cancel the stop order before or at the time the stock opens for trading.

Why Does This Happen?

When you place an ARCA Listed Stop Order during market hours, ARCA will check the stop price to see if it would trigger immediately upon receiving the order. If it would trigger immediately, it will not accept the order.

Three conditions could cause an ARCA Listed Stop Order placed either pre-market or before the stock opens to cancel:

1. At 9:30am EST, when the order goes live, the order is canceled because the National Best/Bid Offer (NBBO) would trigger the stop. Since the NYSE and other regional exchanges may not open the stocks at 9:30am EST, the bad quotes published would make the stop order trigger immediately. Since it would trigger immediately, they do not accept the order.
   
   
2. Before 9:30am EST, if orders are being quoted by the ARCA Exchange that are outside of the stop order, ARCA will not accept the stop order.
   
   
3. After 9:30am EST but before the stock opens, when the order goes live, the order is canceled because the National Best/Bid Offer (NBBO) would trigger the stop. Since the NYSE and other regional exchanges may not open the stocks at 9:30am EST, the bad quotes published would make the stop order trigger immediately. Since it would trigger immediately, they do not accept the order.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

February 14, 2003

The U.S. stock markets and Mastertrader.com will be closed on Monday, February 17th, in observance of President’s Day. Normal business hours will resume on Tuesday, February 18th. Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend.

Effective today, each executed Over-The-Counter-Bulliten-Board (OTCBB)order placed on the GNET ECN will be assessed a fee of 50 basis points (0.5%), based on the principal value of the trade.

OTCBB securities are stocks that are not listed on NASDAQ, AMEX or NYSE and are generally priced under $5 per share.

GNET will charge a minimum of $0.50 and a maximum of $24.00 per executed order. This fee will be in addition to the prevailing Mastertrader.com commission rate. Please review example 1 and 2 below to help you better understand the GNET fee:

Example 1: Buy 2000 shares of ABCD stock at $0.50 per share. The principal value of the trade is $1000.00. Fifty basis points (or 0.5%) of the principal amount of $1000.00 is $5.00 and this would be the GNET fee for this trade.

Example 2: Buy 20,000 shares of ABCDQ stock at $1.50 per share. The principal value of the trade is $30,000.00. Fifty basis points (or 0.5%) of the principal amount of $30,000.00 is $150.00. Since GNET established a maximum fee of $24.00, the GNET fee for this trade would be $24.00.

Also, due to a recent increase in costs, the pass through fee for the ISI order route will be raised from $0.0055 to $0.006. We regret having to raise the ISI fee and we continually work to reduce order route costs with the goal of passing the savings on to our customers.

January 30, 2003

Mastertrader has good news. Effective February 1, 2003 we will be adding the Instinet and OES Trade Routes and the Instinet Book to our RealTick® trading platform.

Note: If your Level 2 window shows up gray, please review the end of this e-mail.

Instinet ECN (INCA)

INCA can be used to trade both Nasdaq and Listed stocks including Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) such as the QQQs, DIAs, and SPYs. INCA works similarly as ISLD, as it will only match INCA orders with other INCA orders.

Since INCA executes roughly 15% of the ETFs trading volume and roughly 25% of Nasdaq’s most actively traded stocks trading volume, it tends to be an effective trade route for both.

For both ETFs and Nasdaq stocks, the following pass-through fees will apply:
- Removing Liquidity - $0.003 per share or $3 per thousand
- Adding Liquidity - free

For all other Listed stocks besides the ETFs the pass-through fee will be $0.01 per share or $10 per thousand.

OES

OES is for Listed stocks only. Unlike ISI, OES will try to execute trades with all market participants such as the regional exchanges and ECNs.

OES offers stop and Good-Till-Cancel (GTC) orders and the following pass-through fee will apply:
- $0.0055 per share or $5.50 per thousand

If you have problems with your Level 2:

If your Level 2 screen shows up as gray:
Right-click on your blank Level 2 screen.
From the menu, left-click on Setup.
In the pop-up box ‘Market Maker/Regional Setup’ and left-click on the box ‘Select Servers’ in the ‘Data Selection’ tab.
In the pop-up box ‘Select Server’, left-click the ‘Level 2 Price Server’ row in the white box on the left side so that it should be in blue.
In the white box on the right, left-click on ‘&Level2&’.
Click ‘OK’ in the pop-up box ‘Select Server’.
Click ‘OK’ in the pop-up box ‘Market Maker/Regional Setup’
If you are still missing the Instinet book, start above at Step 2. If you have questions or need assistance please contact us.

January 9, 2003

Mastertrader.com's web site has been upgraded! The new site, still www.mastertrader.com, is more user friendly, easier to navigate and contains new services:

Hard-To-Borrow search utility - http://www.mastertrader.com/Spanish/ShortList/
Real-Time Software Training program - http://www.mastertrader.com/Spanish/live_training.asp
Features Examples for both RealTick® and MTDIRECT - http://www.mastertrader.com/Spanish/intro.asp
Holiday Schedule - http://www.mastertrader.com/Spanish/holiday.asp
Recent Announcements - http://www.mastertrader.com/Spanish/recentannouncements.asp

Please join us in the launch of our new site by visiting the site today. As always, if you have questions or need assistance please call or e-mail us.

Please contact us if you have any questions or need assistance.