seems like whenever I try to go NBBO on the inside market in my stock that has its specialist on AMEX at least 8 out of 10 times some ECN is trying to match or better my order ... if I match them on their end they sometimes go a cent higher if I cancel my order ( s ) they cancel their orders this drives me craZY sometimes
I'll bet those are black boxes on pretty thin stocks. PS. If yoyu want to test, wait till midday and try to go low offer short, I bet they immediately drop a penny.
You can figure out the dumber ones and outsmart them by layering 1 lots all over the place and seeing where they lay off. then hide your real order behind one of your 1 lots.
these computers are easy to scalp....use their routine logic against them and take $'s from who ever owns it!
It's not just black boxes... But Specialists and MMs trying to make life hard for the competition. One can 90% negate the "penny jumping" shit... by trading a lot of stocks. If you enter 20 Limit Orders in 20 different stocks... And do not care which 10 get filled... All this becomes just a nuisance that cuts your volume by 5-10%... Leaving your profits mostly intact.