whats up with my order

K

keyser1

Last week I put a limit buy good till canceled order for an otc stock (elec.ob). I put the order in for 47 cents.

I got a partial fill last week (about half my order), and the rest is still on order.
Today the stock actually traded lower than my order (at 46 and 45 cents) but my order never got filled. How is this possible? When I looked at the ameritrade order status screen, it actually showed the bid at 45.
Do orders get bounced/lost when they're not completely filled? Are there multiple markets for an otc stock and mine was just routed to the one that didn't have any volume? And for the person that sold at market, and got the 45 cent fill, isn't that unfair when there's a 47 cent order just waiting to be taken?
Should I call up ameritrade and be like what the dill?
 
Just to be clear, you're talking about OTCBB, not OTC (which is synonymous with NASDAQ).

The OTCBB market is a nightmare. In general, quotes are not firm (i.e. they are only indications) and there is no obligation to represent your order. If an MM got a sell order at 0.45 (or a market sell), and nobody else was displaying a better bid, and he called up two (I think) other MMs for a competitive bid, he's entitled to fill it himself or send it to one of the other MMs he contacted, at 0.45. Ask your broker exactly who is holding your order, where the other trade was executed, and why you didn't get a fill. You'll likely get a similar answer.

You're at a huge disadvantage to MMs when trading OTCBB, and you have to have a pretty huge advantage (i.e. inside info, or at least really great unique analysis) to overcome it.
 
Quote from keyser1:

Last week I put a limit buy good till canceled order for an otc stock (elec.ob). I put the order in for 47 cents.

I got a partial fill last week (about half my order), and the rest is still on order.
Today the stock actually traded lower than my order (at 46 and 45 cents) but my order never got filled. How is this possible? When I looked at the ameritrade order status screen, it actually showed the bid at 45.
Do orders get bounced/lost when they're not completely filled? Are there multiple markets for an otc stock and mine was just routed to the one that didn't have any volume? And for the person that sold at market, and got the 45 cent fill, isn't that unfair when there's a 47 cent order just waiting to be taken?
Should I call up ameritrade and be like what the dill?
More...

Yes, you would think the person selling below your bid would be unhappy that they got less than what you were offering to pay. You can ask Ameritrade to contact your MM (most likely Knight) and ask for order to be reflected. Generally, you need 5K to get reflected around $1.00. More size for lower price.

But even with you reflected, the MM for the other firm only has to call 3 other MMs to get a quote and can still bypass your reflected bid. Best Ex rules don't apply to OTCBB and pinksheets.
 
If you trade OTC BB, you are giving others a license to steal from you. Your complaint is like hiring a prostitute, and then complaining that you don't feel loved. Don't be a mark. Avoid OTC BB.
 
But even insider info might not help you when trading OTCBB:

I worked for an european derivatives desk, it was in 1999 or 2000, there was a Bulletin Board Stock (or pink sheet, whats the difference, don't remember), unfortunately I don't remember the name, that went from $5 to $27 in 2 or 3 days, then immediately crashing back to $3 in 1 day.

We had some institutional customer, he asked us if we could buy this stock for him, 5k shares, he gave some hint it was actually a safe thing. Ok, after calling around we even got it done - remember stocks were not necessarily our business.

Ok, he paid $5 on 5k. Note the order was filled quickly. Nice. It shot to $27 the next 2 days.
Then he gave a limit order to sell, the limit was well below
what the current price was. As we forwarded the order immediately - guess it - nobody bought it.

Price started to drop like hell, limit was adjusted several times,
still no execution. Finally he went market, it still took eternities
to get a fill (hmmm... the buy was done in minutes!!) and he sold
at 4 or so, less than he paid.

WTF ?!
 
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