daytraders: question about executing orders

G

gabe

check out the attached chart. when the price was consolidating at 10:45 ish there was very strong resistance at 16.50. I wanted to put a stop order right at 16.51 so i could buy some right when it broke.

I wasn't allowed to do this because the stop price had to be at least .10 more than the ask, which i couldnt seem to get in on. Is this some industry standard or just something specific to my broker? Am i supposed to just watch the chart and hit the send order button right when I see it breaks resistance?

As you can see right when it did it jumped 20 cents and i was too slow with my mouse :(
 

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Quote from gabe:

I wanted to put a stop order right at 16.51 so i could buy some right when it broke.

stop buy order here is useless

Am i supposed to just watch the chart and hit the send order button right when I see it breaks resistance?

that's precisely what you're supposed to do

As you can see right when it did it jumped 20 cents and i was too slow with my mouse :(
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if you trade with a mouse you have no chance to catch a move like this
 
so what was i supposed to do? just ignore the trade since i couldnt place the order within 10 cents of the price?
 
it must be your software.
You should be able to put a stop one penny above...call your broker to see if there's a way to do it.

Just remember, just because you put an order lets say at .51 as a limit, doesn't mean you will get filled. And if you put it as a stp mkt order..you might get some good slippage and get filled .20cents higher.

A good way to do it would be to have a stop limit with your limit price a nickle or ten cents (how ever high you want to go) above.
 
Quote from gabe:

so what was i supposed to do? just ignore the trade since i couldnt place the order within 10 cents of the price?
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Scottrade has the same requirement, except their limit orders have to be is .15 above/below market. I would like to know just as bad as you do about this. I dont day trade so I could give two sh--s about 15 cents, but still...

cm
 
Quote from gabe:


I wasn't allowed to do this because the stop price had to be at least .10 more than the ask, which i couldnt seem to get in on. Is this some industry standard or just something specific to my broker? Am i supposed to just watch the chart and hit the send order button right when I see it breaks resistance?

As you can see right when it did it jumped 20 cents and i was too slow with my mouse :(
More...

Who is your broker.
I'd strongly consider changing to a direct access broker.
 
thanks for the replies everyone, i will call them (scottrade) tomorrow and i guess ill probably end up changing
 
Lots of times when there's a big order on the offer that gets filled like that, it will go in a flurry.

People will go through the market to get shares right after the level goes. The 51s, 52s, and 53s were probably taken before or exactly at the same time as the 50s went.

So, either buy the level, or cross the market. Putting a bid in at 51 will never get you any shares.
 
You should be able to put in a stop order at 16.51... if your broker demands that the order is at least 10 cents from the market, then they're a shitty broker... technically, even if the stock is trading at 16.55, you should be able to put in a buy-stop which would execute immediately (a "marketable stop order," I guess)
 
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