Archipelago Holdings has been a well-managed company, which has built a successful technology platform. Although there were indications yesterday from the NYSE management that the specialist system and existing NYSE electronic platforms would continue in existence, there is no need for them. The Ax can do it all. More to the point, it should do it all.

I still have a few questions, such as which party bought the CNBC interest in Archipelago Holdings, and if Dow Jones & Co (i.e., Wall Street Journal and Barron's) still owns their piece of the Ax.

But the much bigger issue is, what's now to happen with Nasdaq, which is built on a dubious technology platform? Is it really necessary?

I'm sure we are going to hear lots on that score this week, and for a while.

An electronic trading market, like the AX, which is based on straight-through-processing (STP) technology, is what the buy-side side needs. What it doesn't need is for the sell-side to be running it. I say, let's all agree that the NYSE-AX deal (whether the numbers are justified or not) is taking the market in the right direction, but is just a start.

With this NYSE decision, it is now an appropriate time for legislators in the U.S. to discuss the separation of the financial services industry (i.e., the sell-side) from the electronic trading markets. They can start this process by investigating the immense damage caused over the years by blatant conflicts of interest that are built into the existing mixed-up mess of a system, one that is no more a "free" market (i.e., "full, true and plain disclosure") than the sell-side intends it to be.