same stuff on gaps down when there's a lot of supply and plenty of traders seekin' to borrow. that 1lot is a tale tell. could be slightly more but not much and always much more on offer: same shit stock's usually goin' to tumble. prob is that u dont know the horizon: could be a couple of c [not enough to go past the spread] then showin' the exact opposite on the tape and reverse. also it ain't a law and there are other factors in play..where the orders go off--bid?ask? how sizable are those most important how repetitive is certain size, list goes on and on. i trade just off quotes, never look at charts to make my entries/exits decisions, u got much more info there.
Quote from FastandFurious:
steve, bit, thanks for the inputs, let me "summarize" and group my thoughts so far. Please feel free to comment.
[What Happened] This morning WB was downgraded, and I clearly see some institutional size right at the closing price. The market opens, all hell breaks loose lol, and the size prints some off, gaps down, and starts to step down penny by penny.
[what I felt weird] I see the size in the openbook and on the Level II, i see that the new york spread is not congruent to what was shown in the openbook. I saw a "1" on the bid, and some size at the offer that was not the same as what was shown in the openbook. If I remember correctly, the size in the openbook was still stepping down but outside of the spread that was shown on level II. Seconds later, the level II new york quote reflects the openbook and the level II offer was the size in the openbook offer.
[some characteristics]
-no sizable bids came in at that time
-the new york quote on level II was stagnant until it was matched with the quote on the openbook seconds later
-the ecn prices were ahead of the new york going downward
...maybe it's just a refresh problem?
the important thing here I assume is that
1. the size is stepping down on the openbook
2. in order for that size to be printed, it has to be in the spread on level II, which if I remember correctly- was not.