It narrowed its focus to Internet services in 1994, and now it has 440 employees and 150 ongoing accounts, most with large corporations. All morning, traders found that institutional investors were being cautious about committing to building positions in the stock until they saw which way the Nasdaq was going. After that first 15 minutes, if the stock is locked and crossed, it will open at 1 o'clock. If it still isn't locked and crossed at 1, it will terminate and go into the guarded market for another 15 minutes. Traders at their computers kept taking nervous glances across the 50-yard floor to the scrolling ticker on the wall.
Phones rang, but there was a pall in the air.
Everyone looked a bit pale. But to open an Internet IPO at the offering price would be deadly. All year, Internet issues had sold to the public at unthinkable multiples of their offering prices. But Proxicom, which was selling 4.5 million shares, had amassed a book of orders for 82.5 million shares. And that's why the company decided to go ahead and price.