Clarence, Island is an ECN - basically, an electronic market. Instinet is another ECN.
Island handles orders primarly for Datek Securities, some third-party brokers, and a SOES firm associated with Datek.
Orders placed on Island are "crossed" if a bid and offer should meet. They are also (very recently) represented to the overall market (if they are the best bid/offer) under market-maker symbol ISLD.
Because of the crossing feature, it IS possible for traders who have access to Island (e.g. any Datek customer) to buy at the bid or sell at the offer. If you were to place a buy order for CRTM through Datek at the current bid of 21/32, and yours was the only such order (or the oldest one), then you would automatically buy shares from the next Datek customer who places an order to sell CRTM at market. (Or with a limit of 21/32).
Market orders from Datek customers are always preferentially routed to Island if there is a limit order there at the market.
No market-maker involved in this case, and Island collects $1 from each party for the trade. (That's what Island collects from their third-party brokers, Datek gets $9.99 from their customers.)
Island Quotes (at www.isld.com) shows you the entire Island "book" for each stock. (Limit orders only - you cannot see stop orders). So, it may be at the market or away from the market, depending on what orders are booked.
I suspect the reason why you see orders at the market on Island for CRTM and not for other stocks is that CRTM is both thin and holds interest for small traders. Most stocks will either tend to be thin and hold NO interest for small traders, or will be highly liquid, and so you won't find orders at the market laying around on Island very long.
(So, the fact that you see these orders on Island also tells you that they aren't having much luck getting their orders filled...) |
