Below are definitions and uses for the various routes. For your scenario you need to make sure you are using the right type of smart route. It seems like you want to get a fill in between the spread. SmartMid is only good for fills when there is a one cent spread. Thats my understanding. The other routes are not passive routes. They are very aggressive routes to get as much liquidity as possible for very cheap. If you PM me your address I will send you a pdf file that explains all the routes available. There are some midpoint and passive order types from arca, bats, edgx that will be able to do what you want.
SMART route now available via Sterling Trader offers traders the opportunity to find the greatest amount of available liquidity at the lowest possible cost. Orders will source liquidity from the most efficient dark pools as well as EDGA and finally NYSE prior to being routed to BATS. Executions occur at various price points and are identified in fill reports as flag 0.00 through 8.00.
Overall benefits of SMART include: Overall lower trading costs Access to the most efficient dark liquidity venues in a single route Increased fill rates Ultra-low latency smart routing Final routing to BATS and pass thru of any fees or rebates.
SMARTEDGE Smart Edge is a route that offers you the possibility to remove liquidity for a fix cost of $2.35 per thousand. Very fast, low latency, and will route to anything available. Best use for swiping levels. very advantageous to use it instead of ROUX when cheaper venues like EDGA are not available on the level. Routes to anything available on the level and saves you a lot of money instead of having to pay 2.8 or even 3 dollars. To be used to remove liquidity only, there is no reason to send passive orders as you would not get any good fill or rate for that
As you can see, SMARTEDGE will help REMOVE liquidity at a cheaper rate, without ROUTING with very quick execution time.
SMARTMID is a route that allows you to access the liquidity available at midpoint of the NBBO.
If you are not in a hurry to get into a stock and the stock is not moving violently, it might be smart to send an order on SMARTMID before you send on SMARTEDGE as you might be able to save half the spread.
SMARTMID works similar to XFINDER and ARCAMPL.
The steps to follow if you want to buy at midpoint you need to bid at the offer price, if you want to sell at midpoint you need to send an offer at the bid price.
SMART CHEAP offers traders the opportunity to find available liquidity at a low cost (always less than 2.1 dollar per thousand). Orders will source liquidity from the most efficient dark pools as well as cheap ECN and ATS venues. Executions occur at various price points and are identified in fill reports as flag 0 through 6. Please notice that a regular SMART ORDER is going from 0 to 8. SMART CHEAP will stop routing and cancel back the order if it has to go to destinations with 7 or 8 for flags.
Overall benefits of SMART CHEAP include: Overall lower trading costs when removing liquidity Access to the most efficient dark liquidity venues in a single route Avoid paying more than 2.1 per thousand by only pinging cheaper destination. Ultra-low latency smart routing
SMART TAKE: New Smart route to remove liquidity at a fix cost of $2.25 per thousand shares. It offers you the possibility to remove liquidity at a low fix cost. Similar to SMARTEDGE but cheaper (the cost is 2.25 per thousand shares). SMARTTAKE is very fast and will route to any destinations available. It is best suitable to Swipe large quantity of liquid stocks. No information about your orders go to DARK pools (DARK PINGING) like SMART or SMART CHEAP. SMART TAKE if acting as we expect should replace your ROUX orders or SMARTEDGE orders
You should not try to post passively with SMART TAKE because you would not get a good fill rate and you would also pay a high fee considering you add liquidity