FYI an odd lot is for a share size <100. Sizes like 450, 120, etc are mixed lots. I use them extensively at IB and other brokers and there is no problem with them (none I've had yet anyway, including today). Odd lot orders are treated differently on the nyse and that's why they regulate their use. At most prop firms you will be fined for trading a listed stock in an odd lot size. Closing out remnant positions though is no problem.
It's important to keep in mind that one can receive an odd lot position also a result of a merger/acquisition where the acquiring company pays with its own shares instead of cash. Therefore it's very important that at least the closing of odd lot positions will always remain possible on NYSE. As an IB customer, I do not want being forced to close odd lot positions on ECNs and hence at a possible discount to their price on NYSE.
i called to complain on friday about getting odd lot fills on arca then having the rest rejected, seems it should work both ways and it's a frequent annoyance esp considering that the fees are different i don't know the extent of odd lot rules, but it felt like i was annoying the spec trying to offer out of that odd lot fill right under his offer for about an hour and i kept moving it up, can they lock him up somehow..
I find it odd that with all the IB employees around here (and presumably on the IB discussion forums), there has been no announcement or response from the company itself either here or on their own forums. I've heard everything from "No odd lots ANYWHERE, effective immediately" to "No odd lots on NYSE temporarily, but possibly permanent in a few months." If it's ANYWHERE, this is a really bad move. A lot of GOOG costs $50k? Maybe this is an attempt to get people to trade options exclusively. You may not be able to afford $50k of GOOG stock, but you can afford a few $k of calls. Anyone from IB want to set the record straight?
What's to become of the odd lot short index? Seriously, I'd think that if they don't want odd lotters flooding the system then why not impose some kind of cancellation fee for odd lot orders, to prevent people from playing games with 10 share lots. I'd be surprised if the SEC let them do this....not that I trust the SEC to do anything to help the public, but they want to at least *pretend* they're trying to, and find some way to make the change so that it benefits the brokers. SSB
Yeah, a bit strange that no IB folks have commented. As well, they havent said anything here re the Arca fee situation either.
what's wrong with playing 10 shares lots? as long as they paying min.commissions and fees broker and exchange should be happy. more trades-more money for them.
From what I gather, a couple guys at a prop firm used to "pepper" the specialist w/ 99 share market buy orders and since it was an oddlot, it was automatically filled w/o the specialist being aware and w/o affecting the price. The problem is these guys weren't just buying 99 shares, they were buying 10's of 1000's of shares but in 99 share increments. They were basically taking advantage of an inefficiency on the NYSE that catered to the small retail trader. This was like 3 years ago and the NYSE has since disallowed this (after discovering what was going on) and traders at my old firm were warned about engaging in this practice. Sounded like a good scam while it lasted though.