A buddy told me today trading in Odd lots with listed stocks will get an instant fill. If this is true, why wouldn't a trader just press the buy button for the odd lot 10 times or more? Like if the specialist shows 100 shares why not press the buy button 10 times @ 50 shares to get 500? Is there anything wrong with doing this?
Well you may get one or 2 fills .......but that's it. You'll annoy the specialist really fast. Odds lots MUST be at market. Lots of times I'm buying an offer and MUST be filled at that price or selling a bid. I'd be killed if I got a bad price. Plus when I'm trading 2000 shares I don't have time to hit 10 lots over and over and over again. I'd never be filled in time. Robert
There is a NYSE guideline that prohibits "trading" in odd-lots. I believe you can try to abuse this rule, but the NYSE will figure it out eventually. This is the reason Interactive Brokers was forced to disallow the initiation of odd-lot NYSE positions several months ago (many IB customers were abusing this odd-lot feature and the NYSE started cracking down on it). Now IB allows odd-lot trades, but if you direct them to the NYSE, they must be marketable orders. Carl
That's what I thought, but if it fills at the inside all the time because it an auto execution a fast trader can press the button many times before the quote changes...right?
Fascinating....I always wondered about that. Seems like yet another conflict of interest on the NYSE if the spec knows when, what, how much, and finally WHO the order is coming from....but then again, if the public and institutionals didn't get screwed CONSTANTLY by the specialist, our lives would be much tougher, yes?
I think you have been given some misinformation. Maybe you should read up on the specialist system. You would find that size takes a precedence in order fills. The 1000 share guy will get a fill before you do.