I watch the ticks and it appears the block trades in many cases are reported on a delayed basis. If the stock is moving, I don't get a clear sign of the significance of the trades. It seems that a "buy" could be interpreted as a "sell" (and vice-versa) if the timing is not considered. I may be way behind everyone else here, and if so, just ignore me...but what is the significance of these trades in your opinion?
Pete,
1. I can see the blocks real time on TrackOnLine, not delayed. For more info, go to tdc.com
2. I compare the blocks against the bid/ask for the 1 minute period during which they occurred (and against the prior period).
3. If the block was priced at the high for that period (and, even better, up from the prior period), I assume it was a purchase of shares from an MM. If at the low, I assume it was a sale.
4. Apart from buys/sells, block activity suggests to me whether the action in a stock is due to retail or institutional activity. For this past week, for example, there was just 1 50K trade in ASND, and very few 20K+ trades. The institutions took off. Yet, ASND faded on low volume (typical for the past few weeks). That all suggests retail (probably tax loss) selling. The upshot is that, on 1/2, the retail selling should abate and ASND may then drift up on low volume.
5. Recently, ASND has pretty consistently moved up on high volume (and blocks), suggesting institutional accumulation may be occurring.
Gary Korn |
