Typos on my part - what I meant to say was: If the bid was 22.52 and the ask was 22.60 when it traded below your limit buy price, then its possible you would not be filled as the NYSE traditional order system doesn't let you split the bid-ask like on Nasdaq i.e. the specialist does not have to show your 22.55 limit as the best bid as it would be shown on Nasdaq. The way I interpreted Vinnys post was that he started with a buy limit of 22.50 and then he changed it to 22.55 as he says "It then trades down down $22.55, and it's my bid". So on Nasdaq, he would have been filled at 22.55 as the bid had moved down to 22.52 and it traded there (unless it was some 3rd party trade or error). I'm not saying that you can not split the bid-ask on NYSE, but its not like on Nasdaq where if you have the best shown bid and someone wants to sell - then they would take your bid before selling at a lower price. No specialist approval needed. Net-net, as I said before, I think Vinny's problem has to do with the closed nature of the NYSE specialist system and how they control the shown bid-ask rather than decimals or increments. IMHO
"I'm not saying that you can not split the bid-ask on NYSE, but its not like on Nasdaq where if you have the best shown bid and someone wants to sell - then they would take your bid before selling at a lower price. No specialist approval needed." actually you might still be wrong. i hate to get into discussions about nyse these days because it brings out the attackers. but under the nyse rules the specialist must fill you if you are high bid. he cant skip over you without violating the rules. so if there is a stock trading 22.50bid-22.60ask and you put in a bid 22.50 or better and the specialist wants to print 22.50 or less he has to fill you even though the ask is 22.60.in fact if he has a big order and wants to print 22.40 he has to give 22.40 even though your bid is 22.50.you get price improvement. he has two choices. fill you or up his bid above yours. this i one area of the market that retail has an edge. the specialist must accommodate.
Instead of having a rule-book that can be violated, with specialists knowing that only 5% of people will ever follow-up and complain - why not make it automatic, like on Nasdaq. If you have the best bid, then you get filled before a lower bid. That makes more economic sense than selling to someone who will pay less (lower bid) when you are willing to pay more with your higher bid. The specialist system seems to pervert common sense price discovery.
there will always be argument about weather the specialist system makes sense or not. its not something that us small traders have to figure out. its just something we have to work with. i am able to make nice profits every day following this rule so as long as its available will keep using this edge.
of how ridiculous this one penny system is. I am bidding $32.75 for a stock, and the offer is $32.80, and a seller of 4,000 shares comes in, and the print is $32.76 ! So I got nothing! And that was the low for today. Vinny
I know what you mean. I went to McDonald's today to buy a hamburger. They were charging $1.76 and I was bidding $1.75 - guess what? I didn't get the burger! If we get rid of pennies and go to nickels - then I should get the burger, no?
If the increments were nickels, I would have been filled at .75. No doubt about it!!! There was a 4,000 share sell order, and .75 was the next bid. The shares should have traded at .75!! Of course NICKEL INCREMENTS LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD! Anyone at the NYSE awake?!? I think the hamburger analogy is full of horsecrap. Vinny
The next time you have your bid at .75 or .50, and you don't get the print, why don't you move your bid up a couple of pennies? If you are missing stocks at the low of the day because of one penny, you are missing the big picture. Clearly you are making good picks, but you're executions are in need of help...On another note, .75, .50, .25, and the fig are all quite strong natural levels where the institutions trade. If you have a bid at .75 and the spec prints .76 and then rips it up, there might have been a nice big bid at .75 that he was not showing. If the penny thing bothers you so much, take advantage of it, rather than letting it take advantage of you.