Quote from inandlong:
I enter trades intraday at limit prices, usually 2 cents above the ask on a buy. This is not for a daytrade, so not buying at the bid isn't important to me. The market is .27x.28 and I want 4K shares of 8600 offered. Order goes in for .30 on 4K limit. Market prints .27's and .28's below me, of which I get 1300 at .29 and 2700 at .30. I was the only print at .30 and .29. The b/a never went there. I called. They adjusted all to .29.
Again, it isn't the cash. It is the principle. I trade thru Ameritrade which routes the orders thru Nite. The commish is cheaper and they have other services I like that preclude using IB for an order like this. So the real question is, would the fill at IB offset the higher commish given the same order?
It just bums me out somewhat that there seems to be such a lack of integrity throughout business.
I think it is worse than it appears. I would bet good money that the MMs that are getting order flow have thier computers programmed to exploit orders like these. Something like:
order(order#, StockID, Shares, Price, Market,limit)
IF Market = .25 x .30 and order = market
THEN buy Shares of StockID at market
posttrade( at highest offer within order receipt time +
60 seconds)
End if
It is best to have orders routed to an ECN that autofills against the inside market.
I have put trades through TD Waterhouse that have had executions well away from the inside market, but I complain every time and they almost always make an adjustment.
