I got a fill in my favor Tuesday on T. I had a buy order for 500 T @ 12.25 on ISLD while current trades were going off @ 12.52. I got filled for 150. Of course this was right after the Cons.Conf.#s came out when lots of selling came in. Not a big deal in terms of $$ but still pretty cool . . . for me! BTW, I wasn't trying to trick anyone with this order. I just had it sitting out there along with other buy orders to cover my shorts. The funny thing is T went below 12 later that day! Tony
I hit a bid that I thought had spread down .10 when in reality it had spread down 1.10. I called Redi, who spoke with specialist and I had it thrown out. This is not always the case, but since the price came back I was able to get it reversed.
I once talked to a trader who had a program that bis and offers exactly a dollar away on island. Catches easy profits off mistakes. Is he wrong for doing it? I showed some guys in my office how it works, you only need on fool a day to make money. --- BID ------------ OFFER NYSE 56.25 ----- 56.50 ISLD 55.25 ----- 57.50 Sometimes you are only looking at the 50 cents and forget about the dollar.
How is this a "SCAM"? People forget that players in the market are trying to take your money. PERIOD. You have a loaded gun in front of you every morning, try not to shoot yourself with stupid mistakes, because there is someone there to make sure they will profit if you do.
Capitalizing on the clerical mistakes of others might seem sporting and, in a perverse way, fair, but it's not. In the long run it's bad business. It certainly doesn't require any talent and truly contributes nothing. Traders who think this is cool are probably the same ones who say, 'ethics doesn't matter in trading.' They forget that the major trades are done on a mere exchange of words and that, absent the ethics of those players, the sporting little minnows would have to look to other markets to 'rule.'
dont hate me b/c you can't trade. Never made the mistake and hopefully never will. But if I do.....I promise you I am not going to whine about it. My stupid mistake.......not the person benefiting from it. Let me guess.....you are one of those people who think we should ban dodge ball from middle school.....b/c the strongest and fastest always win...right? We are not on the floor.....and if I want to take advantage of people who cant tell the difference when a bid/offer is 1 pt outside the market....I am not going to feel bad about it.
I disagree. You can't blame traders for taking advantage of a clearly erroneous system. If it were clear that all trades that happen exactly $1 away from the market are clerical mistakes, Island would have the duty to cancel all such orders before they execute. If every convicted serial killer got a one day vacation every year and the government gave her access to automatic weapons and ammunition for the duration of that day, would you blame only the killer for the resulting blood bath?