Hidden Orders

are futures orders hidden sometimes on globex overnight

hedge fund X shows 10 full size SP offered at price Y

on globex overnight ... as the size is reduced to 1-2
it refreshes back to 10.

or is that not possible ?

sometimes it looks like this is happening
but as I am not an owner of a globex terminal
I am only guessing as to what is happening

 

I believe orders sent... not dollar volume...not sure though...

I am sure you are right about $ being larger...

 

took my money today

ok not much money ... and it might be that I will

recover my loss later today or in the next few days

but in "DB" this am pre market

there were hidden orders to buy

amazing ... how if I enter a limit order

1-100 shares ... at an arbitrary price

it would execute against my order

up to I guess 25 cents below the Instinet high bid

 

This will probably show my ignorance of how orders are actually excuted, but at the risk of being flamed:

If your order is hidden, how can it get executed? Who has the power to 'see' your order and actually place the trade with you?

Thanks

 

If you post a hidden bid for $10 on some ECN.
Then some places a sell at $10 on the same ECN you both get a fill. The sell side may not have expected a fill because he did not see the bid, but he got one.

 

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. However, it is disappointing in a way because it brings down the usefullness of Level II even more....

 

I use hidden orders to "bait" other traders. For example if I am long 1000 and the market is .10 x .25 I will offer 100 shares on regular isld at .21 and offer my other 900 hidden at .20. This way I don't hold down the stock, and any eager buyer may think he's only going to get 100 and take all 1000 by accident.

 

Thanks. Question: Will this only work on either an illiquid stock or after-hours? I would imagine this would be very difficult on a high-volume stock intra-day.
Thanks

 

Actually you are more likely to get a fill on the higher volume stocks. I don't trade afterhours.

 

Hidden orders have become marginally less useful with the elimination of sub-penny increments on ISLD. But they can still be an important part of your trading plan.
On high vol. penny stocks, you will find hidden bids and offers at tenth of cent intervals as credit traders try to get filled and earn credits for providing liquidity.
As for the question, do hidden orders get filled? Yes, absolutely, as long as they are the first order in line. eg. Bid is .25 and offer is .27, my hidden offer at .26 will get filled before the .27 displayed offer.
The thing to beware of in this example is that once there is a displayed offer at .26, then my hidden offer drops to the back of the line, even though it was there first.
Hidden offers outside the inside price can yield some great fills when a large position panics out or just swipes to try and create a panic.