1.-Well what route do you usually use for trading stocks? I can route through ARCA, or my broker smartroute "MBTR". 2.-Is smartroute reliable? And, i have told that smart route could pick liquidity from a dark pool, from someones inventory. 3.-Could it means they could trade against? Tx you very much =)
If you use their smart route, my guess (based on the rule 606 report for MB Trading, which is at least one broker with the "MBTR" route) is that they're routing your orders to Credit Suisse: http://www.mbtrading.com/f/disclaimerSR14-Q4.pdf Credit Suisse may or may not be paying your broker for the privilege of trading against your broker's clients. This is known as "payment for order flow" to your broker from a "wholesaler". My impression is that "smart route" generally means "smart" for the broker, not necessarily for you. Routing is quite complicated, unfortunately, and the best route for a trade depends on the order book at the time. But all other things being equal, I'd rather send my orders to an exchange route than to a "wholesaler" as my order may cross a midpoint or hidden order at the exchange and thereby get a much better deal.