Besides contacting each ECN and MM individually, is there a way to find out how many decimal points each one accepts for incoming orders? Example: I want to buy or sell SUNW, but instead of placing an order for $5.50, I want to make it $5.505 (three decimals) or $5.5075 (four decimals). Now, I realize there are a ton of market makers, so let's just focus on some of the big ones such as Schwab, Herzog, and Knight. Thanks in advance for any info. Marc
..but i think it depends more on your software than on the entity on the other side of the trade.....
It definitely depends on your software... the ECN may take .001 but your broker may not. ISLD allows .001 increments. INCA allows .001 if the security is priced below a certain level I think INET is planning on getting rid of .001 and only allowing pennies.... e.g. YHOO already INET. ARCA (I think) allows .001 on anything OTC. Not sure what market makers can print in... but I think in some securities at least they can print to the tape in .0001 increments??
BRUT can go to .0001, I've read here ARCA does too, but I've never been able to. ISLD and INSB both can go to .0001 from my experience at least..if it's different for each software package, i don't know..
I've asked this q before of lots of folks and I think if your bid/ask posts to Level 2 from the ECN or any broker, it is truncated to 2 places. Most ECNs post to 4 places, I'm pretty sure that's the max no. of decimal places anybody posts to......