good afternoon everyone, could someone please tell me what a protected transaction really means.

Easy to understand but wrong.

A single protected transaction occurs when a large order is presented by a broker to a market marker who is unwilling to commit himself to the whole order at the time. So the market maker agrees a price for a portion of it, often the normal market size or a small multiple of it, and the price for that portion is "protected", hence the name. The remainder he reserves the right to take at a different price, which he determines as trading progresses through the day. Often it will end up being the closing bid or offer price. The price that is reported will be the average of the protected part and the unprotected part, which is why it often has a number of decimal places. The trade is "single" because it's not part of a "portfolio" trade, i.e. a number of stocks presented at the same time to the market maker. It must be reported by the end of the trading day whether complete or not, which is why a lot are. The market maker is not bound to take the whole trade by the end of the day, he may only take some. The delayed reporting allows the market maker to take the order without the whole market knowing his position, which might mean another market player would be tempted to work against him.

nice one kayak. it all seems a wee bit underhand wich i suppose is the norm in this buisness. or is that just me? take it easy guys and have a good day trading.