Our traders do a lot of MOC's in the stocks they are involved with everyday. When you become a "surrogate specialist" in a stock, you know how it trades at the end of the day, and place MOC's when you see a pattern of them ticking up (or down) consistently. We go against the imbalances as well, on a daily basis. Don
When traders talk of making money with MOC orders (as Keith Espinosa of Lion's Trading Group does ar his specialty), they are talking about MOC Imbalances - not your regular MOC orders. I mean, how do you know how the stock will print at the end? That would be a pure guess work. However, with MOC imbalances, at least you have some additional information to work with. For MOC imbalances, I know the minimum is 3000 shares at Wldc..I don't know if that is a firm minimum or NYSE minimum. MOC imbalance is a whole different game and requires alot of capital...and it has not worked well in recent months. Although...that GS and UPS print for S&P addition was a nice $6 gap. And RD did print down $2. THOSE are the times when MOC guys make nice change. Think of it...3000 minimum x $6 = $18,000 in one print and knowing traders probably did a whole lot more than that! If anyone knows Billy Horn, he made $1M on GS MOC imbalance that day..I kid you not. But..those days are gone...99.9% of the time, MOC imbaalnces do not work these days.
Would anyone happen to know if I (being the average Joe) can get information about the order imbalances for free somewhere or is it just a source of revenue for the exchange like the funky NYSE level II look-alike they invented a few months ago?
Well, I gotta say a couple of things. First, there is no "minimum" for MOC's (I've never heard of such a thing). Secondly, our traders tend to trade a few stocks, day in and day out (surrogate specialists), and they do well with the "average" MOC. They may place the orders in before the imbalances on a daily basis, and of course placce offsetting trades during the last few minutes. Anyway, since they "allowed" us back in the arena by changing the rules again, we're doning ok with the MOC's (even 500 shares at a time). Don
No such thing as MOO..its just a plain Market Order. Also, remember MOC's typically have to be entered 20 minutes before the close...only time you can enter after the 20 minute deadline is to offset an imbalance. Hope this helps.
Not sure what you mean by "no such thing": http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/tws/moo.html http://www.investorwords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?2981
Come on guys....there are two things on the order. 1. Either market or Limit. 2. Type of order (OPG, DAY, MOC, etc.). So, there is a Market (price) on the OPG (Opening Only). Don