Did TOS Just Rip Me Off?

[murray t turtle]

This morning, with SPY trading for a while between 416.50 and 417, with a penny spread, I placed a market order for 50 shares and saw, as soon as I hit the key, a print for 415 and change pop up and then in a flash disappear. And sure enough when I check the fill on my order, that 415 and something was my fill. Like wow, either the bid-ask on my screen for SPY is not accurate, by a substantial margin, or I was hit by a hidden HFT. Can anyone explain? Is this what payment for order flow is about?

Needless to say I am not pleased with TOS today.

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NOT so much pay for order flow/you can get market order slippage the other way also,dwriter2.
SPY is the liquidity leader/ so you may want to note in your notebook\sell in May today, may not be the best time to use a market order??
And IF you see a see a sell in May today\ good limit order works well.
IF i was aiming for a good fill with market order, i may not try it in MAY/on a red 30 minute candlechart \with weekly chart going down.

I like market orders sometimes for exits;
but my targets are seldom 00.20%, so its really not a market order problem or market maker problem. Good thing you were not trying to exit SPXL................................................

 

[murray t turtle]

Seems very strange indeed. According to the chart below, 415 hit for only a minute, but in that minute, it was nowhere close to 416.50-417 range you mention. Something is definitely off. Any chance you're using delayed data? The 415 print happens at 10:22, but if your data is 20 minutes delayed, I can see why you thought it was still in that upper range.

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True, mr Noah;
but weekly+ monthly chart looks much more bearish than your 1.1 day chart.
And using your chart\ SPY went lower than open price\SPY went lower than your 5/4/21 close price.
AS far as 20 minute delayed, in a good or average uptrend; as other elite noted/may pay to delay for a day................................................................................
BUT going lower than open price/ lower than gap/lower than last days close are also common short term exit signals, unless its an investment or longer term trade.