I've started actively daytrading since January of this year. I have a problem trying to exit and enter positions while holding large share sizes. I find others increasing their bid price over mine and decreasing offers. I find this extremely frustrating and am probably doing something wrong. Any suggestions are most welcome. The only solution I can think of is breaking the order into smaller share sizes. However, this opens up a plethora of other problems including more commissions etc.
Try to use ´Hidden´orders. There are many firms out there who offer them. They all have different names. They show only a part of the size you´re willing to buy/sell Hope this helps
H2O, Thanks for your suggestion. The brokerage I use only offers hidden orders on Island. It also gets a lower priority in relation to market and limit orders i.e. market, limit and then hidden on island. I did try hidden on island and did not get filled.
There are also firms that offer reserve orders, where you post, for example, 500 shares but you really have 5000. Your quote just keeps refreshing after the 500 are traded.
Toonces, Thank you. This is probably what I'm looking for. Can you name any firms? I would really appreciate it. As mentioned earlier my firm offers hidden orders exclusively on Island. The order is not posted on Level II and is only filled if there is an existing matching order in the island book. As a result there have been numerous occasions when I've had to compromise and settle for a much less desirable price.
AK15, I don't quite understand. If you want out what is wrong with hitting the offer (or offers) ? To try to chisel out a better price brings in itself an increased risk with it. Does anyone see this different ? freealways
Freealways, I don't think you're getting the point here. Most of the bids and offers are really small 100 to 500 shares and all at different prices. In order to fill a large order I'll probably have to hit on average 10 to 15 of these small lots. Imagine what my cost price is going to be after going through this process. Your suggestion might work if you want to hit the existing inside bid or ask which is usually for 100 to 500 shares. You don't get filled on a large order by just hitting these small bids and asks.
InteractiveBrokers supports "Iceberg" orders if you use its SMART routing. So you can specify to buy 5,000 shares but only have it display up to say 500 shares at a time (these share amounts are configurable). You lose control over where these orders get routed, but it seems like it would alleviate your problem.