Hi, i wonder if the marketmaking strategy by trying to win the spread with limit orders in Nasdaq and NYSE small cap stocks could break any rules? If you try to place your bid or ask order always on the top of book, could this be some kind of spoofing or price manipulation or something else? The reason im asking is, it seems like traders in some other countries got in trouble just for placing bid and ask orders simultaneously for the same stock. And the SEC site says you have to be careful especially when trading small caps. Do you know some cases where small traders got in trouble? Im not talking about the big cases like the future market spoofing cases. Example current bookprice 20.20 / 20.80 i would place my orders at 20.21 and 20.79
Maybe the following market manipulation crime could apply: See https://secwhistlebloweradvocate.com/sec-violations/market-manipulation/