Goldman, Sachs & Co. ("Goldman Sachs") is publishing
statistical information about our execution of market and limit orders in those
Nasdaq market securities in which we are a designated market
maker.
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") rules require
securities exchanges, alternative trading systems (known as ECNs) and Nasdaq
market makers such as Goldman Sachs to publicly disclose statistics in a number
of standardized categories based on certain assumptions about order execution
and order routing practices. You should note that based on the SEC's
requirements, these statistics only capture a minority of Goldman Sachs' order
flow.
The required statistics are intended to provide a baseline to
facilitate comparisons of execution quality among and between market makers,
alternative trading systems, and other trading venues. However, they do not
provide a complete comparison across trading venues, because each venue's
statistics reflect only the types of orders it has received which are in turn
based on its customers' or users particular objectives. Accordingly, the
statistics do not create a reliable basis on which to assess whether Goldman
Sachs or any other trading venue has satisfied its duty of best
execution.
The SEC has made it clear that investors should take into
account a number of factors in evaluating the quality of their order executions
and in making order routing decisions. These include the size of the order,
whether the dealer commits its capital to enhance liquidity for the customer,
market conditions, customer objectives, technological capabilities, and other
services provided by the dealer.
We have made every attempt to prepare
these statistics in compliance with the SEC's rules. However, these statistics
have not been audited and may contain errors. Accordingly, any decision about
whether to open an account or to direct orders to Goldman Sachs should not be
based solely on these statistics, but on an evaluation of the full range of
services that we provide.
