That dinging sound wasn't actually the doorbell. The ringing Alice heard signalled the close of the trading floor for the day.

The Mad Hatter laid down his jam spread and pointed Alice in the direction of the Queen's croquet game. Alice strolled and strolled, and like anyone seeking a decision, she finally came upon it.

A large rose-tree stood near the entrance to the Queen's garden. The roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and as she went nearer to watch them, she heard one of them say, "Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like that!"

"I couldn't help it," said Five, in a sulky tone, "Seven jogged my elbow."

At which Seven looked up and said, "That's right, Five! Just like you, always laying the blame on others."

"YOU'D better not talk!" said Five. "I heard the Queen say only yesterday that you deserved to be ... beheaded!"

"What for?" said the one who'd spoken first.

"That's none of YOUR business, Two!" said Seven.

"MY business," said Two, "is really the stock market anyway!"

Alice had broken up arguments between her sister and Uncle Lewis before. That was, well, HER business. So she stepped right in. "May I ask you a question, Two?"

But just then, before he could answer, the Queen approached. All the gardeners, even the one (meaning Two) who tended the stock market, laid down on the ground. Flatly. They nearly disappeared, they were so flat, and only clubs and diamonds and spades were visible.

The Queen seemed heartless. Which was ironic, for she was decorated in hearts. She strutted right up and asked, "What's your name, child?"

"Alice, your majesty."

"And will you make me a block trade?" demanded the Queen.

Everyone looked at Alice. Remembering the clanging of the bell, she said, "The stock market's closed, your Majesty."

"Off with her head!" screamed the Queen.

At this, the very edge of Two peeled upwards and he said quite quickly, surprising even himself, "She's not an institution. She can't use the Instinet."

"Off with his head!" shouted the Queen, angrier than a bull on a bearish day. She stared long and hard at Alice. "Execute," she enunciated every single syllable, "the trade!"

All were silent. At last, the Knave of Hearts, who was soon to go to prison for insider trading, piped up and said, "Large positions of stocks are often traded at night, your majesty. But not by Alice. Even so, we hear about it the next day, and often the stock has changed overnight. How might this be happening, and why?"

1) Investors overseas are trading long after our markets have closed, causing unseen fluctuations
2) Institutions like mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and brokerage firms are trading in the Fourth Market
3) Market Makers are trading under the table to the highest bidders, generally the high rollers (the wealthy)
4) The Market Makers are arbitrarily changing the stock prices, to make the stock more attractive come morning, when the market opens

The answer is 2) Institutions like mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and brokerage firms are trading in the Fourth Market.

This is the term for trading after hours. It's a way for institutions to trade large blocks of stock while both avoiding commissions (since it's all done directly with each other) and to move large quantities of stock without playing havoc with the price during trading hours. The Specialist will use this time to buy and sell his large blocks as well.

Whether the Specialist buys or sells large blocks, it generally has no bearing on whether we're in a bear or bull market. However, when institutions are doing this, it can have a bearing on where the market is heading, and could cause all kinds of problems with individual investors if this was done during business hours. Try to imagine what would happen to the price of a stock if a mutual fund closed a position of 500,000 shares in one trade during trading hours. The stock price would fluctuate in such a way as to cause unnecessary panic.

This is avoided by transacting business after the close of the market, and only between institutions like brokerage firms, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and sometimes specialists. They use a computer-generated system called the Instinet. As yet, it's not open to individual investors, although changes are in the works to make that available to individual investors. Some brokerage firms are giving their customers access to this if they wish to trade large amounts of a stock, by doing it through the use of their seat on the exchange.

Suddenly, Alice heard a whoosh! She felt something cold against her head. "I'm about to be de-," she gulped, "capitated!" But it was only de soda jerk, topping off another vanilla phosphate.

"You fell asleep, right on the marble-topped counter," he said. "Must be all that fizz."

"Actually," said Alice, "it's the fizzle. The fizzle in my lack of stock knowledge."

She hopped off her stool and tromped out the door, stomping and clomping, getting her bearings. She reached in her pocket and put her fingers around her library card. She continued on down the road, past an open manhole cover, and rounded the corner. Over the front door to the library hung a sign. READ ME, it said.

"I need to do some market research," she said, and then said what she meant. "I mean, some research on the market."

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