I've been using a hotkey that buys on the ask and trying to figure out if there is any difference to a market order. Lets say for example, if there was 100 shares on the ask but you used a hotkey to buy on the ask for 200 shares what would happen? Would it only buy 100 shares on the ask compared to a market order that would try to fill the other 100 at a higher price?
Isn't that function just a limit order for the ask? Sounds like you need to learn a bit more about the software you're using.
Yes, a limit order would limit the price you would pay and give you more control of your entry/exit prices. I'm not a fan of market orders. If you are more aggressive and want to add to the chance of getting filled fast, I'd rather set up a hotkey to buy the ASK plus a value. This is a hot key to buy 500 on the ASK +.05. It will continue to seek liquidity up to that value. This is Lightspeed Trader and the route is our SMART route, cost is $0.0015/share. Half the cost of ARCA and NASDAQ.
Ok thanks but I don't think I will need that feature cuz my position sizes are so small right now. Unless somehow I hit the hotkey and someone snagged the shares right before me. But I think the software would just find the next available ask so I don't think that's would be an issue.
Even with 100 shares, what if you miss the offer and the next offer is $0.25 higher? Market orders provide no limit, I would not use them.
No, I meant I don't need to use the extra feature of adding 0.05 price offset to seek additional liquidity since my position size is so small it's unlikely I will ever get partially filled.