Hidden orders at IB -- how are they handled?

Discussion in 'Order Execution' started by SideShowBob, Oct 6, 2006.

  1. I screwed up last night and chose "default" as the trigger method on my buy stop order on the canadian 10 year bond (CGB) when I wanted to choose "double bid/ask" (that'll teach me not to enter orders while watching baseball playoffs!). But it got me thinking about how hidden orders are handled, and whether choosing hidden or not might affect whether my order is hit with a stop run (magically I went long at the high of the day after the jobs report -- then it immediately reversed significantly lower).

    For a simulated order (such as a stop market on GLOBEX or on the Montreal Futures exchange where the CGB trades I assume "hidden" doesn't mean anything, as the order sits on IB's servers anyway until it triggers then it's submitted as a market order anyway.

    But for a native order (such as stop limit on GLOBEX, or LIMIT on Montreal exchange) how does it work? The example for hidden orders is for INET, but is it any different for other exchanges? Does IB keep it out of market depth by not sending it to the exchange? Or do they send it but somehow hide the details? I realize hidden isn't meaningful when you're trading fewer than 10 contracts anyway -- but I want to know if it means they cannot see my stop order (and therefore gun for it).

    SSB