what are some of the problems that i might run into trying to trade odd lots (less than 100 shares) of nasdaq stock through ib's SMART? anyone have ideas/experience here? thanks~! ben
I think the only issue you might run into is that you can't initiate an odd-lot position on ARCA through IB. So anytime ARCA is on the best bid/ask, you might not get filled right away. I believe default behavior is to route your odd-lot order to INET. Note that you can exit an odd lot position on ARCA, just not initiate it.
I do odd lots all the time with IB smart on Nasdaq and it is no problems at all. It's only an issue sometimes with small caps, low liquidity (<25,000 per day), high spreads kind of stocks. Good luck
Just so you know, it appears that as of this morning, you can not initiate an odd-lot position on INET through IB either. Very annoying. This certainly is starting to cramp what you can do with odd lot orders now. How are you supposed to do proper portfolio allocation with small amounts of money with these restrictions? Is this an IB restriction or an INET restriction? If it is an IB restriction, then it is very disappointing.
Read someplace that if you make a habit of initiating odd lot positions on nas, you will eventually be called on it and told to stop. It annoys people. I remember when a friend of mine used to preference mm's with odd lots, and he got in a lot of trouble for it. That is a different thing, I know, but the principal is the same. It pisses off people.
I would counter that for a person who has reserved a set amount of money to trade a position, it is sometimes useful to use odd lots to build up that position. For a high priced stock like GOOG, your minimum amount per trade is now approximately $50k. And frankly, I don't care who I piss off if it means I control my risk and make money.
does NASDAQ ( INET ) or NYSE ( ARCA ) still allow a trader to put on 100 shares and scale out say in 25 share increments ? or has that been eliminated also from a traders toolbox?