Well, I should have known better - I was having success trading this POS. However, I got caught the past two times I traded this POS. Whatever... such is life. I'm gonna cash out soon and sit out. I'm taking too many risks right now and my portfolio is showing it.
Depends on the routes the buy orders are taking. If they are being handled on the floor, the specialist & floor brokers will put them aside for a few seconds while the resting stops are hit and executed. If they are electronic, they may prevent the specialist from initiating the stop price, on occasion this happens. Either way, there are obvious limits just how far any specialist would go to hit stops. They need a certain liquidity vacuum situation to do it the right way. Only stops should be system stops. Placing them with a human is like showing your hand in poker. I've had my stops in profitable positions run 80% of the time. I simply did not have a choice as the only route was a NYSE stop order.
1. Children use scapegoats. Dog ate my homework. Hitler found the Jews most convenient. 2. Quick and/or sharp moves, up or down, whether intra-day or at the open are specialist/MM maneuvers with minimal public participation. Often either away from HIS basis or to shake out low hanging fruit to acquire/dispose inventory. Are you lush or citris? 3. Hard stops telegraph where you are on NYSE and AMEX. Hard stops should be "hard" to hit, hence for disaster purposes. An alert is a feature on most platforms. 4. The best way to acquire or dispose of inventory in one swoop is a simple gap. You said it, 5 seconds. 5. Using ARCA doesn't allieviate when you use logical price points such as $18 1/4. Easy guess where the clusters are. 6. This is a predator/prey arena. You haven't figured that out (yet)? You'll pay tuition to the skool of finance until you do.
I have learned my lesson. I do not trade stocks on either the Bulletin Board or the AMEX. This is a hard rule and no matter what is listed there or how good, I wont trade it if its listed in either of those places. These are loosely run exchanges and anything goes. AMEX is real loose with listing requirements, the BB is the loosest with practically no requirements. I dont know how many times I've seen the tape painted on AMEX listed stocks, BB stocks can run up good until they fall through the trap door. Dont get me wrong, you can sure make yourself a boatload of cash when one of those stocks double-triples overnight, but there is simply too much to lose as well.
I won't trade NASDAQ stocks, and I only trade BB stocks on bankruptcies. Most of my holdings are AMEX, and a few NYSE when I'm in. The specialists and market makers are there to make money. They see stops as money on the table, and they take it.