apple

hoodooman · Mar 5, 2004

Got a signal on apple today to go long but when I clicked it up the stock was moving up but the prices were crossed, 99% of the time, all the way up. Wanted to enter with a market order but was scared to because of the almost continuous cross.

What should I have done in this case.
Thanks and regards to all.

Mecro · Mar 5, 2004

ever hear of market orders?

hoodooman · Mar 5, 2004

Hi mecro
Since the price was going up rapidly and the bid was always greater then the ask, I figured that I would get filled at the top with a market order.

Please explain your point.
thanks

lindq · Mar 5, 2004

Quote from hoodooman:

Got a signal on apple today to go long but when I clicked it up the stock was moving up but the prices were crossed, 99% of the time, all the way up. Wanted to enter with a market order but was scared to because of the almost continuous cross.

What should I have done in this case.
Thanks and regards to all.

You have only three choices. (1) Enter a market and take your chances, (2) Enter a limit and take a chance that you won't get filled, or (3) Do nothing.

It ALL depends on how much you want the stock, and how important a specific price is to you. Only you can answer that.

hoodooman · Mar 5, 2004

In my case, I was trying to scalp. Have had no luck with limit orders in cases like this. Thanks lindq for the reply.

Mecro · Mar 5, 2004

Quote from hoodooman:

Hi mecro
Since the price was going up rapidly and the bid was always greater then the ask, I figured that I would get filled at the top with a market order.

Please explain your point.
thanks

If you want in, sometimes you gotta take the chance. In fast moving stock like that, you actually expect to get in at the bid?

The whole time you could have just went market and gotten filled instead of watching the stock go up and up while wondering how to get in.

Or you could have tried limiting up as high as you were willing to pay.

hoodooman · Mar 5, 2004

Thanks mecro.
I'll go market next time with small number of shares and see what happens. If I don't get a fill, I guess that I could try to cancel. Had bad luck doing this on IB in the past.
regards

prox · Mar 5, 2004

If you're going to scalp, you really ought to be going market in , market out. There should be a relative zone of entry, but nit picking over the exact tick to get in is unnecessary stress.