Is it possible for any orders to be filled outside of the bid-ask spread? Meaning can i sell something for 60 if the bid-ask is 54-55? Is it possible to buy just above the bid and sell just below the ask for an easy flip? When I place an order does it always go through a market maker or only sometimes? If some sort of catastrophe occurs causing the price to crash, does the bid-ask spread widen significantly? Do market makers/specialists ever manipulate the price, or is it completely legit? When the price moves, is this a manual adjustment made by the market maker to find equilibrium? Who determines the opening price and how? Isn't this a super easy way to screw with the market for their own gain?
no you can't trade outside the bid/ask spread...else everyone would be doing it-and why would market makers exist? market makers buy the lowest offer and sell at the highest bid: buying cheap and selling for a small gain, the spread.
Sure, you can pay above the ask and sell below the bid. However, you need to have a Direct Access platform and you must be trading for yourself. With the Direct Access platform, you direct where to route your trades. If ECN A has the NBBO bid 99.99 and offer at 100 and ECN B has an offer at 101, you can direct your trade to ECN B and take the offer at 101 and pay the extra one buck for the trade. You must be trading for your own account. You cannot pay above the ask and sell below the bid with other people's money because it is against securities regulations. There is no law preventing people from doing something stupid if it is there own money.
what i meant by you can't trade outside the spread is that you can't trade outstide of what all the current market makers are offering