Quote from Dustin:
Correct, they never really enter an order...it's just an immediate internal fill. Their algo determines if they internalize or route out, and how much to internalize if so.
Quote from Dustin:
OP clearly was sub pennied by internalized order flow from a retail seller.
Eg, a retail Schwab customer enters sell order and Schwab scoops it up for .0001 better than best bid (OP). This happens all day, every day. I'm a believer that the playing field should be the same for all market participants. If Schwab can do it, then we should be able to.
Quote from ElectricSavant:
When they internalize...does the op get the fill? sorry for the trading 101 questions...just confused.
I suppost when it gets reported, the timestamp is when it gets reported on the TRF...not when the deal was consomated...what keeps this honest? I can see a big bucket loophole here...I have been trading the buckets over in Forex and have become allergic to them.
ES
Quote from Occam:
I think the ulitmate solution is to ban internalization and payment-for-order-flow enitrely. Internalization and fragmentation are costing everyone, and it's a really opaque cost to the typical retail trader.
Quote from Dustin:
No, the OP certainly does not get the fill. That's the whole issue. OP was willing to display his order and participate in the price discovery process. He gets front run by an institution who takes no risk and doesn't participate in price discovery. In doing so the retail client who got the fill saves approximately 1 cent (literally) so institutions say internalization benefits the customer by giving price improvement (a joke).
Quote from Occam:
I think the ulitmate solution is to ban internalization and payment-for-order-flow enitrely. Internalization and fragmentation are costing everyone, and it's a really opaque cost to the typical retail trader.
For brokers to call this "price improvement" is laughable. They are often "saving" the retail client 1 cent per order while screwing up the entire market's transparency, consistency, and fairness for a few more dollars through backend deals for the retail client's flow. Not to mention the fact that execution of these internalized orders is often horrible.