How does the T&S determine if something was bought or sold at the bid or ask? Like, if some one sent a market order to buy at the ask, some one has to be selling at the ask, so what determines if the sale goes down as a buy at the ask or a sell at the ask?
Time and sales prints the bid and ask.... (when there is a difference there is no trade) It also prints trades.... (when the buy and the sale are the same price)
So when this says At Ask and it's showing green, i;m guessing that some one went to buy at market and hit the ask, but why does not show that some one sold at the ask? How does it differentiate?
It is a buy and a sale.... you need both to have a trade, so there is no reason to say "bought 100 at the ASK and sold 100 at the ASK" since you cannot buy unless someone sells. So you just say "it traded", "it printed", "it hit the tape", etc...
GREEN means it traded on a PLUS TICK or a Zero Plus tick, RED means it traded on a MINUS TICK or a Zero minus tick. ALL trades represent a buyer and seller exchanging securities in the marketplace. PS: If someone takes the entire offering and bids it, and it gets hit before it ticks higher it still ticks (GREEN on a HIT)!
Not sure what you mean. Your T&S doesn't say "bought" or "sold". It just shows where the trade occurred (at the bid, ask, or in between). How you interpret it is a matter of personal preference. One of my platforms (Hammer) marks a print at the ask as a "sell", so that's how I think about it - from the perspective of the liquidity provider, not the taker. It probably makes more sense to think about it the other way, though, since when there are more buyers than sellers, you see prices increase, and more prints at the ask - i.e. it makes more sense to call those "buy".