I just started trading through IB and have a question. During the after hours session tonight I posted a limit order to sell 200 INVN @ 30.95 This was pretty far away from the current market. The stock was trading at about 30.45 and I was the highest ask on L2. The current best ask was 30.48. Some one bought 2 shares from me at 30.95 What the heck was that? I assume that I paid the $1.00 minimum commission to dump 2 lousy shares? Come on now you guys fess up who ever bought them 2 shares I wantum back! lets make a deal .. I will buy them back at full price if you will refund my $1.00 commission Nas
If they only took 2, I think you only got charged 2 cents if the order stays in there. This kind of odd lot thing happens quite a lot in thin markets. I personally have never been charged a minimum if I eventually get rid of all of the shares even if they get transacted at different times. I think the minimum only applies for opening positions for less than 100 shares. I hope this helps.
Next time post your order directly to ARCA or INSTINET. For a round-lot order, ARCA and INSTINET don't allow odd-lot matching (for NASDAQ stocks). If you use SMART routing, you will most likely get routed to ISLAND where you will be very susceptible to odd-lot fills. Carl
I didn't think you could really trust the L2 after hours. I don't trust it during regular hours. Of course, you're probably not worried about a margin call.
I think it is a glitch in TWS. Same thing happened to me about a month ago afterhours with Island. Maybe an Island glitch? I mean, who in the heck buys/sells only 2 shares? A goofball?
It's not a glitch. It really happens. It has nothing to do with IB (or whoever you send the order through). I get fills like that almost daily. Often, what will happen is that you will get the tail end of a larger order. Picture the following offers on Island: 48 @ 30.90 200 @ 30.95 <-- You 100 @ 31.00 Someone sends an order to Island to buy 50 shares at 31. They get 48@30.90 and 2@30.95 (from you). Note that this leaves the book looking like: 198 @ 30.95 100 @ 31.00 So the same thing will happen to the guy at 31 if someone wants to buy 200 shares. It's kind of like a hot potato being passed around. And yes, there are goofballs out there that think they can make money in a tiny account trading 10 shares of a $30 stock (and giving up $15 commish to their broker). Fortunately, they don't last long, and the market is attracting fewer of them now Instinet and REDIBook (for listed only now) have separate round-lot and odd-lot order books. If you post your round-lot orders there (instead of SMART), you will not get odd-lot fills. By contrast, putting your order on Island away from the market, you may sometimes get odd-lot fills if there is no other odd-lot liquidity further in. When this happens for 90 shares, 0.30 from the inside, I'm generally happy If you leave the 198-share order resting there after getting the 2-share partial, and then get the rest of it hit later, you will only be charged $2. If you cancel the order and re-place it, you will be charged $1 for the 2-share fill. Can anyone state for sure what happens (commission-wise) when you change the order after the partial? Does it matter what you change (price, size, etc.)? Does ARCA really protect from odd-lot fills on Naz, but not listed? That seems odd.
Currently this is true. When ARCA/REDI merge on listed stocks, I assume ARCA will protect from odd-lot fills on listed stocks as well. It appears that ARCA is using REDI's technology for its new merged platform because ARCA always used to allow odd-lot fills for round-lot orders on its book. Carl