E*Trade Cashing In on NYSE-Archipelago Hookup

E*Trade (ET Quote) is wasting no time cashing in on the proposed merger of the New York Stock Exchange and Archipelago Exchange (AX Quote).

The online brokerage filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 529,731 shares of Archipelago stock -- just about its entire stake in the electronic stock exchange.

E*Trade filed its notice to sell on April 21, a day after the surprise merger was announced. That day, Archipelago shares surged 60% to close at just under $30 a share.

From the filing, it's not clear whether E*Trade has actually sold its shares yet. But assuming the financial firm sold them for about $30 a share, the transaction would have generated $15.9 million in gross proceeds.

An E*Trade spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

E*Trade was one of the original investors in Archipelago, which began as an electronic communications network. Last August, Chicago-based Archipelago went public in a $126 million initial public offering. In the IPO, E*Trade sold 232,803 shares.

After the Archipelago IPO, E*Trade held a 1% equity stake in the electronic stock market.

To date, E*Trade is the first big original investor in Archipelago to sell shares in the aftermath of the deal with the NYSE.

Big Board executives currently are traveling the country, trying to sell the deal to the NYSE's members. The sales job is an attempt to squelch opposition to the merger, which is being fueled by Home Depot (HD Quote) founder Kenneth Langone.

Langone, a controversial former NYSE director, claims the Big Board's 1,300 member seat holders are getting short-changed in the transaction. But many on Wall Street are wary of Langone, because he is close friends with former Big Board Chairman Richard Grasso and helped win approval for Grasso's outsized $140 million pay package.

Most don't expect Langone to succeed in putting together a group to buy the NYSE and scuttle the Archipelago deal, despite abundant media coverage.