ok ... who is the cotton picking programer who seems to have automated the competition to match or go higher by 1 cent almost every time I go high bid on an ECN sometimes even on the NYSE ... ok ... fess up .... I won't tell ...
I met a man, a very wealthy man, several years ago. He told me of a program callled a 'snake,' which was designed to execute orders with typographical price errors if they were favorable. It just went out and looked for them. I used to notice on isld after hours, as soon as I was high bid, someone would join me -- instantaneoulsy. When I cancelled, he was gone. One night I called isld and asked one of the techs. All he would say is, 'Oh, sure...I don't doubt that someone would write such software.' What you describe is certainly possible, though diabolical. I suppose someone will defend it. It is uncanny sometimes how the posted prices and sizes seem to be immediately affected by my orders on some of the secondary, less active issues -- the ones that don't have alot of followers (then too are the times when those orders are completely ignored, owing to the 'free time' loophole). If you search, you'll find some things I've posted about specialists ignoring DOT orders -- documented and proven by one of the institutional investors in ARCA (American Century Ventures). One of the big battles is forcing NYSE to honor ITS-CAES orders (which they apparently haven't been inclined to do). With ARCA being designated the nation's first electronic stock exchange, this apparently will have to change (unless inca or someone buys them and shelves them...but I don't think it'll happen). I'll just attach that article again. It's well worth it and might give pause to the more thoughtful of the apologists for the NYSE who say things like 'life isn't perfect, if you don't like it, go somewhere else.'
i've emailed it to you. "it was in either the jan, feb or march issue of Traders' Magazine, published by Thomson Financial."
When you go high bid on an ECN... Your probably jump in front of others by one cent, right? Well, what goes around comes around! They've just gone one step further and automated it. I know it's annoying, but I suppose any trader would do the same thing if they had the capability at their disposal. Best of luck, -Eric
check out www.hrld.com stay away from their top traded stocks these guys are the biggest "snakes" out there
Another interesting phenomenom I've noticed with some Naz 100 stocks is the sudden appearance of 3 ECN's, like redi, arca and brut, each displaying identical and odd-looking size like 147 (14,700). They will be 2 or 3 pennies outside the inside quote, will increase or decrease size in unison, and generally disappear when the inside market approaches. If anything, it is visually impressive.