Execution/Time and Sales

[marketmonkey 10]

I am new to short term trading, been investing for 20 years but have spent the last 2 years reading, studying, watching and learning shorter term trading and doing well enough to keep going but this problem scares me.

I trade on Fidelity Active Trader Pro and I put a limit buy order in for 500 shares at $7.79, the DOM showed 5800 shares in the que at the bid of $7.79 and 6200 shares at the ask of $7.80.

My order of 500 shares bumped the bid at $7.79 to 6300 shares and I watched the time and sales, to my amazement after some time a total of 8760 shares were bought at $7.79 along with thousands of sub penny hits before the bid/ask moved to $7.80 then up and up.

 

How did my limit at $7.79 get missed if it was placed ahead of 2460 shares that came in after me?

The order I placed was place using the smart routing feature.

 

Could somebody please explain how this happens, I have other examples with some of over a 15000 share difference. I don't get it and feel I need to understand why this is happening.

Thanks in advance.

[fxeconomist 11]

I am new to short term trading, been investing for 20 years but have spent the last 2 years reading, studying, watching and learning shorter term trading and doing well enough to keep going but this problem scares me.

I trade on Fidelity Active Trader Pro and I put a limit buy order in for 500 shares at $7.79, the DOM showed 5800 shares in the que at the bid of $7.79 and 6200 shares at the ask of $7.80.

My order of 500 shares bumped the bid at $7.79 to 6300 shares and I watched the time and sales, to my amazement after some time a total of 8760 shares were bought at $7.79 along with thousands of sub penny hits before the bid/ask moved to $7.80 then up and up.

 

How did my limit at $7.79 get missed if it was placed ahead of 2460 shares that came in after me?

The order I placed was place using the smart routing feature.

 

Could somebody please explain how this happens, I have other examples with some of over a 15000 share difference. I don't get it and feel I need to understand why this is happening.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Have you tried to figure this out together with your broker? What was their explanation?

Most probably you got your order slippaged as it often happens in fx trading.

[spareappeal 10]

thanks for the details and right now i am doing the same thing .

[eldad 10]

Hi,

What you see in the DOM or level 2 is not the whole picture,

some buyers/sellers sends there orders with the "Hide" options which means you don't see it in the books, it is there but you cant see, and they are in the line to get filled according to the submitting time (most chances before you did)

 

you might saw it yourself, the lv2 shows 100 shares and someone just hitting the bid/ask but still the 100 shares stay, and price don't move,

 

Also the DOM lv2 shows the best bid/ask for each market maker at the moment so if the Bid is 9.80 under 9.79 you want see all the bids because some market makers had bids in 80, check this for more info: Introduction To Level II Quotes

 

with that being said you still need to check with your broker because some times they do

have problems,

 

All the Best

 

Eldad