Quote from bandit:
SLIPS (Short term Liquidity Providers)
The Slips product has been out since jan 1 through Hold Bros. They have been actively used to sell stocks on a downtick since then. They are very expensive. A round turn costs .046. That is right, almost $50 per trade. It is crazy, but works at times.
Here is how a slip works.
Max slip is 1000 shares per 30 sec.
the bid has to be NX able (auto execute)
You the trader enter the order to execute a slip. the offering BD of the slip has a program that looks at the market of the stock and determines the following
The bid size must me more than 1.
A slip can only execute within 5 cents of the previous NY print.
Bid must be NX able.
SLIP executes for only how much is on the bid (ie.. you want 1000 shares, and only 400 show, order goes out for 400)
If all the above is met, The BD offering the slip will create an uptick on an off exchange, and your order will execute against that uptick. The offering BD will then be long the stock, and ATTEMPT to NX the current bid. This is where their risk comes in. Since they are long, if the bid fills before the slips BD can execute, then they offer the stock down 30 or 40 cents, and just dump it. The biggest problem is that the firm offering the SLIP passes all the "extra" costs on to the trader. If they take a lose of 20 cents then they will charge you a "surcharge" at the end of the day.
Now understand all the above takes place in a fraction of a second.
VERY EXPENSIVE, and only useful in certain circumstances.
Make what you will of it.
Bandit