9. Level II

To bring up the level II window, go to the Menu Bar, choose Application -> Level II in the drop down menu. When you see the level II window pop up, please enter your stock symbol in the box on the upper left hand corner. The window will then load streaming level II market information as Figure 9. A level II window includes the following components: the level I panel in the top portion, the bid panel on the left side of the middle portion and the ask panel on the right side of the middle portion, and the order entry at the bottom. Both bid and ask panel have three fields: Market Maker ID, Bid/Ask price, and quoted Size (in hundred, 17=1,700 shares).

Figure 9.

To enter an order in the level II window, you just need to perform a simple point and click action. To populate the right information into you order entry box, you just need to double-click on an entry in either the bid or ask panel. After that, you can click on the action button Buy Sell Short to specify your desired action and submit the order. For example, in Figure 9, to buy INTC on ARCA at price 32 9/16, one just need to double-click on the 4^th entry in the ask panel, then the desired order information is loaded into the order entry box; another click on the action button will submit the order. Please know that the color of the action buttons and the frame of the order entry box will change according to the action specified. Blue for Buy, Red for Sell, and Yellow for Short. The right color will be highlighted for about half of a second and then get refreshed. This design is to raise traders’ awareness of the action being taken.