There is nothing wrong with what happened, and it is unlikely that anybody is cheating you. You aren't entitled to a fill to sell at the offer, plain and simple. There may be others also offering stock at the same price, and your order has no priority.
So, let's say you are offering at 23 1/2. Schwab drops their offer from 23 5/8 to 23 1/2. A Schwab customer comes along with a market buy order. Why do you think Schwab would give the order to you? They are going to fill it out of their own inventory.
OK, now let's say a Merrill Lynch customer comes along with a market order. Merrill doesn't have any inventory. Now, they have a choice - who do they like more - Schwab or Datek? Well, most MMs don't particular like Datek, because the way they do business tends to eat into their spread. So, the order goes to Schwab.
Nothing wrong with any of this, and all perfectly legal. A bit of simple logic should make it clear that you aren't entitled to, nor should you expect, a fill selling at the offer, no matter how many shares go through at that price. |
