Why is a thinly traded bid/ask on a stock not showing up at other brokers or the general market??

Discussion in 'Order Execution' started by Cabin111, Nov 25, 2020.

  1. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    I'll use Schwab and Fidelity as examples, with RGT as a thinly traded stock. The stock is traded in penny increments. Bid say $14.50...Ask $14.40. So I will go to Fidelity and put my price in the middle to buy...$14.45. I will then check on Schwab (and refresh continually)...The $14.45 will not show up on the ask. Or it will show up twenty minutes later. This happened a few years ago. Does this still happen?? When does it go from the privileged/contracted MM to the general market? Thanks...
     
  2. I have noticed this too and it drives me crazy. You probably want to use something like IBKR Pro (not Lite/commission free) to route to exchanges. Or look for a broker that advertises direct market access. You can look for Rule 606 and 607 disclosures to see what percentage of order flow is sold.
     
  3. qwerty11

    qwerty11

    the part where some stocks trade in penny increments don't happen anymore...
     
  4. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    It will happen in 5-10 cents increments too...Also options, my bid/ask will not show up at the other brokers!!
     
  5. Dicer

    Dicer

    IBKR Pro is DMA?
     
  6. I play razor thin stocks with volume less than 10,000 shares for longer term swings. Unless it was a old pilot .05 or .10 program your supposed to be the NBBO. Pull up the time so someone can look it up on historical T/S.
     
  7. I will admit I don’t know much about this arena, but I do know you can choose specific routes for a fee when placing orders in IBKR. You can also see if their SmartRouting (for Pro) fits your needs.

    OP is trying to place a non-marketable limit order on the book between the spread to allow other exchange participants to meet them between the previous spread. The order flow purchasers seem to hold onto these internally instead of sending them immediately to exchanges.
     
    george_the_second, Occam and Cabin111 like this.
  8. ajacobson

    ajacobson

    The original OP shows an inverted market which would generate an error message on the SIP - suspect you mean 14.40 bid - 14.50 ask. Why would your order not be represented? A whole slew of possibilities, but if one broker sees the market change and another doesn't - that implies a broker is filtering SIP and that is a Million dollar whistleblower claim(Maybe less), but I would document it and send it to the Whistleblower folks at the SEC. SIP has a monopoly on public quotes to the tape, although there are private feeds that are quicker and I doubt that is the issue here. From what you represent a broker is showing it so we know it's not sitting on the broker's router and if it's really thinly traded I would want it price-protected and send it to an exchange. Sitting on it is kina suicide if the stock trades on more than one venue because I would want NBBO protection. Pretty much the situation is fairly similar for options with OPRA.
    For both stock and options, the thinly traded stuff generally has little or no payment to interact with and it's a hot potato I would want to get rid of as quickly as possible, because if it prints somewhere at your price - you're going to gripe at them for a fill.
     
    zdreg likes this.
  9. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    For both stock and options, the thinly traded stuff generally has little or no payment to interact with and it's a hot potato I would want to get rid of as quickly as possible, because if it prints somewhere at your price - you're going to gripe at them for a fill.[/QUOTE]

    The strange thing over the years...At Fidelity/Schwab I would be in the front of the queue on their board (1 bid or ask at that price). It seems that I would be at the front of the whole market for that. BUT, I would see it get filled at that price and it would not be me!! Say there is a twenty cent difference between bid/ask...I will keep dropping till I am the only one in the queue on their board. And yes, I know others move (jump) in front of me before I get moved. I am willing to do this just for the customer service of Schwab and Fidelity.

    So the question is why would others get filled when on their (Schwab, Fidelity) system says I am the only person at that price?? This happens even after I refresh to make sure I am still the only one in the queue...
     
  10. Cabin111

    Cabin111

    "OP is trying to place a non-marketable limit order on the book between the spread to allow other exchange participants to meet them between the previous spread. The order flow purchasers seem to hold onto these internally instead of sending them immediately to exchanges."

    This is my biggest gripe with Schwab and Fidelity...It they resolved this, I would be a happy camper.
     
    #10     Nov 26, 2020