SPECIALISTS

Specialists are traders who play a crucial, physically active role on the floors of stock exchanges.  Because they do not interact directly with investors, they are not as visible to investors as stockbrokers are.  However, the role of specialists is to effect orderly trading and provide liquidity for stocks. As a result, specialists are largely responsible for the smooth functioning of the exchanges, which conduct most of the world securities transactions by dollar volume, or total value of all such transactions.

What Are Specialists? What Are the Specialist's Duties? What Is the Specialist's Book? Specialists Keep Markets Running Smoothly

Let's start by meeting the specialist.