I just opened a very small account with a new brokerage firm. This is what happned: I had gotten in 20 shares at FGP (now that is a fairly thinly traded stock) and today I closed out at market. My market was a pure market order. Since it didn't seem that my order was executing after 8 minutes (the stock was on an uptick), I called up. It took a while (a few minutes) and the position was closed at 2 cents below bid. The executed price never showed up in the charts. I called up and complained. Here the answer: An odd lot below 100 shares is an odd lot - executed price is not recorded in chart. Even lots and mixed lots only are recorded on charts (mixed being 101 shares or anything else above 100 but not being in multiples in 100). Can anyone confirm that this is the rule? (sidenote: I will contact the SEC if need be, & this has never happened in my IB account) Thanks.
It is my understanding that share size is rounded for reporting purposes. Twenty shares would be rounded to zero which would not be reported. I believe this is system-wide, not a broker policy. Also some venues (e.g. NYSE) execute mixed lots but not odd lots. The price you see on the NBBO may not be available to odd lots.
Thanks you for your reply. It just seems odd, who can trade 100 shares of google or 100 shares of BRKR? Still looking for a few more opinions.