Safety and soundness would not only be compromised by the lack of a phase-in, but would be further compounded by the extensive changes that would have to be performed once again when Nasdaq is ready to convert. Pricing edits would have to be built to recognize which securities are trading in fractions vs. decimals by exchange. This is a significant development effort for the firms and service bureaus as this process does not currently exist. Dual Pricing would create serious problems for options market professionals that will have to deal with securities in fractions and decimals in the same public outcry environment. For example, an options market maker could receive a large number of trades in both decimals and fractions simultaneously.
Investors often enter orders without regard to the exchange a security is traded on.
An investor that fails to monitor the status of an order may be unaware that a mispriced order has been rejected. Dual Pricing will cause the industry to encounter at least two phases of implementation, testing, and conversion. The costs associated with each of these elements will be exacerbated accordingly. The July 3 rd target date was always considered to be aggressive. The original plan was to complete testing by late May and then assess the industry's readiness.