Ed-From your e-mail address I'm guessing your in Thailand. There is a stock exchange there and hence, brokerage firms. I can not recommend your using one of them, but if you find a lagre one I'm sure they can and do do business in the US markets. If you are day trading/opportuning, this approach may not work, but it may be worth your time to look into opening an account there.
Limit orders are "parked" in one of three places. If the firm you place an order with makes a market in the stock you are trying to buy/sell then that firm will change their quote to reflect your order.(assuming there are not more favoraby priced orders on their desk - they will reflect the best order they have on their books.) If they do not make a market in the stock, they will route the order to one of the ECN's (INCA, ISLD, TNTO, BTRD, REDI) and your order will be reflected by one of these symbols. The third option is to route the order to a firm that makes a market in your stock, that market maker will change their quote to reflect your order.
I've never used an ISLD machine, but I have seen INCA, and unless you have a terminal sitting in front of you, you will not see the book (all the orders behind you on the INCA system) only your order. On a level II the ECN's only reflect the best bid or offer in their system, not all of them.
If you are not concerned with price improvement I think (MY OPINION) you'd be better off with a large wholesaler (HRZG or MASH for example) reflecting your order. The ECN's charge a fee to market makers who do not subscribe to their system, and in my experience stock will often trade away at your price through a market maker competing with your price before your order gets executed.
If you have a level II machine, you should be able to see a size/price change that equates to your order in one of the market makers quotes - so you should be able to watch your order no matter where you place it, ECN or otherwise.
I'm sure that Steve will have objections and/or additions to what I've said here, so don't make any decision until you get a second opinion.
Good luck,
Joe |
