31.   The NASD, which operates Nasdaq, said Mayer had executed other orders before customer orders to sell stocks that were falling in price.

32.   The patents cover ways the microprocessor talks to memory systems, executes orders or finds data.

33.   Then computers were installed so that orders could be executed electronically, and his commissions dropped below the cost of leasing a seat.

34.   They now get far less, but the rules still require these brokers to execute only orders that are sent to them, not trade for their own accounts.

35.   Those buy orders were executed on the American, New York and Philadelphia stock exchanges, the SEC suit said.

36.   Thus, it makes it more likely that an individual order will be executed at a better price than the current bid or asked price would indicate.

37.   When a customer places an order for a Nasdaq stock, the broker can either execute that order from its own inventory or send it to another market maker.

38.   When investors tried to sell their stocks, the brokers often refused to execute the orders, he said.

39.   How could such an order ever be executed with any degree of fairness?

40.   In addition to looking for violations of securities laws, the investigators examined how well online firms execute trading orders and warn customers of trading risks.