Still learning options to a good degree but wanted to know about the Qs and if something I've experienced a few times is normal. (Preferably for someone who deals with options on QQQQ) Details are options on the Qs, end of day volume was around 6000 - 7000 and the contract size was around 20 - 30 each time. I'd placed a limit order to sell at around 11am at the ask price. I fully expected it to take some time to go through but a few times now I couldn't get a fill by the end of the day except once. Is this normal? Any recommendations or thoughts as to why? Thank you.
The Q's are among the most liquid (if not the most liquid) in the ETF options space. Can you fill us in with any more details about your order? Limit price, strike, time, ect. One reason you probably didn't get filled is because you were selling on the ask, not the bid. If you want to get filled immediately you must hit the bid, otherwise you must wait for another person to take the other side of your order, which may never happen if the market runs in the direction you had anticipated. Fills in the Q's are pretty much instant.
I don't remember the exact details to those sales except they were OTM and the bid/ask spread was small, if only a few pennies. The order was put in about 11am both times and the volume was probably around 2000/3000 at that time and finished the day both times above 6000. With nothing else to do I watched the #s as far as how many were selling for the bid and how many for the ask to try and gauge if that was my issue but I'd say a good 1/4 to 1/2 probably went at the ask price. I guess what I'm asking is if I was just that far back in line to get filled at the ask or could something else be the cause, routing of the order or something. Would marking it GTC help for any odd reason? ( I know very little about the MM side of things, if anyone has a url that explains their side I would be interested.) Thank you for any info you all can provide.
1) You were attempting to sell when the implied volatility was on the verge of declining. 2) You were too far out-of-the-money in a less liquid option (daily volume ~6000 contracts?) where traders were less willing to step out and take your offer.
Yes, GTC helps. (But you may not want to be offering that option the following morning.) It puts you in line - ahead of every other public customer who enters a day order the following day. But, that does not guarantee a fill. Mark