Steve,
Thanks for your responses, I'm sure this will help flatten the learning curve for those of us who want to understand listed markets.
A few more questions and scenarios for you to comment on:
I know floor brokers can say "I want to sell 10,000 at this price but don't show more than 5,000 at a time" , but can a DOT order be used to do the same thing?
A stock is 64 11/16 (2000) x 13/16 (300) 200 shares print at 3/4, then 100 print at ask and ask size drops 100. From the first print we might surmise there is someone interested in buying or selling at 3/4, but not advertising that interest. Since the second print was at the ask, we know a buy order for 100 came in, and we now know there was no hidden seller at 3/4 (because the buyer would have gotten a print at 3/4, unless the person had only wanted 200 shares). So that suggests there is a hidden buyer of unknown size at 3/4, correct?
In general, when a small bid or ask size is taken out by a print smaller than the size shown, what can you conclude? For example, in a stock I was watching today, the ask size is 500, and 300 prints on ask, the ask lifts to next level (all on nyse), and the size is again 500. A couple hundred prints at ask and the ask upticks again. Would the specialist be putting a small amount of size at each level so it trades at least something at each level and the stock doesn't jump around in price so much?
Thanks for your time,
Grn |
