I've not noticed an interesting scam in one stock that I frequently trade. The stock rarely has much volume, so when I call my discount broker, he gives me the real time quote. Then I say "ok sell 3,000 shares at the market." He says, "ok, hold for your confirm." I wait about 20 seconds, he comes back on and says "ok, your order went through, but someone sold 5,000 shares right before you, so the stock went down right before you got filled."
THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME CONSISTENTLY WHEN TRADING THIS STOCK. (Both buying and selling.) I'm not going to release the name of the stock, because I still have a ton of it, but it's true.
Furthermore, when I 'dissect' the stock action that night by looking at a 5 second interval intra-day graph, it is consistent that a miraculous order will go through either boosting the stock price when I'm trying to buy at the market, or hitting the bid lower when I'm trying to sell, seconds before my order goes through. It's happened SO MANY TIMES that it cannot possibly be coincendence, and it's cost me thousands and thousands of dollars.
I DO NOT believe my broker is doing this to me. I SWEAR it's the market maker. If it happens again I'm filing a complaint with the NASD. It's an ancient practice known in the business as "front-running"; that is, trading right before a big order goes through.
WE SHOULD ALL BE BEGGING THE SEC FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NAQCESS, a proposal that was quashed by the market makers, because it put the power with the individual investor.
Up in arms,
KEV |
