Or will it be able to eventually establish a more successful trading base such as LinkedIn (LNKD)?

FORBES: Facebook and Nasdaq: Two Faces of Lost Credibility

Now, every morning, an IBM supercomputer at the bank's New York trading base runs its portfolio through Monte Carlo simulations of the sort developed to simulate nuclear explosions.

FORBES: From nuclear bombs to net assets

You are going to base your trading strategy on that?

FORBES: Using News in Trading -- Strategies, Defense and Charlie Sheen?

Regulators would have to be convinced that sports contracts have enough of an investor base to be legitimate trading contracts, and not just one-off bets.

FORBES: Magazine Article

NYSE's secret: its apparently low trading costs reflect the fact that its high cost base is spread over enormous volumes.

ECONOMIST: America��s leading stock exchanges need modernisation

Although the secondary market is still young, it is routine for companies to halt trading before an IPO to have time to account for its current shareholder base, said a person familiar with the secondary market.

WSJ: Facebook Targeting May IPO

Hertz need not worry about eating into its existing customer-base, says Chris Agnew of MKM Partners, a research and trading firm.

ECONOMIST: In hot pursuit of the casual consumer

Sideways trading over the next few days could provide the metal with the kind of base that would allow for a push toward year-to-date highs.

FORBES: Amazon, the Cloud and the Case for Free Kindles

Chinese firms, for example, derive 60% of their income from equities trading, putting them "at the mercy of equity markets and turnover, as well as their mainly retail investor base, " said Bonn Liu, a partner at KPMG China.

WSJ: Asian Brokers Benefit From Rising Stock-Trading Volumes