No member shall make an offer to buy from or sell to any person any security at a stated price unless such member is prepared to purchase or sell, as the case may be, at such price and under such conditions as are stated at the time of such offer to buy or sell.
• • • Supplementary Material: --------------
.01 Firmness of Quotations. Members and persons associated with members in the over-the-counter market make trading decisions and set prices for customers upon the basis of telephone and electronic quotations, including quotations displayed in an inter-dealer quotation system. In some instances a dealer's quotations, purportedly firm, are, in fact, so qualified upon further inquiry as to constitute "backing away" by the quoting dealer. Further, dealers who publish quotations in inter-dealer quotation systems have been found to be unwilling to make firm bids or offers upon inquiry in such a way as to pose a question as to the validity of the quotations originally published. Such "backing away" from quotations disrupts the normal operation of the over-the-counter market.
Members, of course, change inter-dealer quotations constantly in the course of trading, but under normal circumstances where the member is making a "firm trading market" in any security, it is expected at least to buy or sell a normal unit of trading in the quoted stock at its then prevailing quotations unless clearly designated as not firm or firm for less than a normal unit of trading when supplied by the member. However, if at the time an order for the purchase or sale of the quoted security is presented, the member is in the process of effecting a transaction in such quoted security, and immediately after the completion of such transaction, communicates a revised quotation size, such member shall not be obligated to purchase or sell the quoted security in an amount greater than such revised quotation size.
In order to ensure the integrity of quotations, every member has an obligation to correctly identify the nature of its quotations when they are supplied to others. In addition, each member furnishing quotations must ensure that it is adequately staffed to respond to inquiries during the normal business hours of such member.
It shall be deemed inconsistent with Rules
2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade) and 5220 (Offers at Stated Prices) if a member fails to fulfill its obligations as outlined above.
For the purposes of this Rule, the term "inter-dealer quotation system" is as defined in
Rule 6420.
