I am wondering what the best way to get filled at the open on monday morning is. i currently use limit-on-open orders on monday morning through ib's smart routing. but i was wondering if someone buys only at the open, is there a better broker out there? or does it not matter due to the opening cross? also, if i put in a market-on-open order through ib's smart routing, am i guaranteed the opening cross price? thanks much in advance.
For markets that support an opening cross, IB does the same thing any other broker would do - sending it to the same place. Shouldn't matter where it comes from.
If you want to be guaranteed the opening cross price, you shouldn't be using SMART. You should direct route to the market center performing the cross, otherwise, you have no guarantee. If your limit price matches the cross price, then again, you will have no guarantee of a fill.
I had a similar problem, I wanted to use a regular limit order but I wanted to be certain it would participate in the opening cross. To do this, you have to use a directed order to the primary exchange. The key thing is to make sure "Regular trading hours only" is NOT checked, or you will miss the opening cross. This is why it has to be a directed order, otherwise you might get filled preopen from the ECNs at an inferior price. Also, I don't think you can trade an odd lot in the NASDAQ opening cross. I'm pretty sure you can on NYSE. Martin