Quite new to stocks and I have a few questions : - How do you avoid getting odd lot executions ? - Once you are filled with those F* odd lots, what is the best way/venue to exit while providing liquidity? - I get the FINRA prints on T§S comes from dark pools. What are the main ones nowadays? Can we as retail traders get some of those fills? brokers? Thanks.
Bear in mind that you could be selling your stock to a market maker who is buying the stock because he has a better handle on demand than you do. This means that he knows the stock price will be going up. By being patient, you could catch the upside momentum and sell at a higher price. Of course, you will have to be very careful about trading with the trend because you do not want to be a buyer when you should be a seller.
To the best of my current understanding, it's not possible to completely avoid getting odd lots when adding liquidity -- it's avoidable when taking it, in which case you can set a minimum size for certain order types. This is one area where having knowledge of order types of various exchanges might help, in which case you'll have to dig in to the ever-changing documentation (and possibly the FIX specs) of each exchange to have a definite answer. Whether or not that type of drudgery is worth it is up to you. Getting rid of odd lots is more challenging if adding liquidity, as odd-lot orders are not reported in the consolidated feeds (although they do appear in the very expensive direct feeds from the exchanges, plus you may get crossed even by users who don't have these feeds). With respect to the FINRA TRF prints, some are dark pools and some are "internalized" or "retail orders sold to wholesalers". See: http://www.nanex.net/aqck2/3519.html for some more about this works and the costly damage it causes to the market for (almost) everyone.
Thanks Occam. 2B$ in "edge" to wholesalers Vs 20 M$ in price improvement for retails...LOL. For sure the stock market isn't a fair market, but compared to futures , it is also less efficient. Fair and competitive Vs rigged and inefficient. I wonder if some retail brokers are offering routes to provide liquidity on dark pools, not just looking to remove liquidity like IB SMART.By the way, I have another question. Are their some trade-through on dark pools? I noticed one went through me today but I had an odd lot resting order. So I wondered if it was because of my odd lot or because it was a FINRA print.