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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jean M. Gauthier who wrote (51153)	11/19/1999 9:44:00 PM
From: RoseCampion	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Let's say, for example purposes, that the call is $150 Bid $153 Ask...what's are you saying is the best in this scenario ? Others more experienced might be better able to answer this one, but... The only way to answer that is to know how badly you want the call (buying, I assume). If you believed the price was going up very soon, and so wanted the option desperately (not my usual style of investing), I would say just put in a market order and be done with it. Unlike edamo's experience, I've always seen fast executions on my market orders. Although sometimes at a price I didn't like... I certainly agree with him that it's suicidal to use a market order on something moving around as fast as Q prices and volatilities are. You might as well put a "please fleece me" sign on your back so there's no chance of confusing the MM. <g> If you could take or leave the purchase, or really had a defined price that you wouldn't accept more than, I would bid $150 1/2 for a while, on the "it never hurts to ask" theory. If no bites, you could then cancel and replace for $151 or $151 1/2 and see if that enticed anyone. And keep going up from there every 5-10 minues, until you've hit your predetermined price limit, you get a seller, or the trading day ends. <g> Of course, all this time the stock is gyrating around beneath your offer, and so are the option's bid/ask prices (much more if it is DIM or ATM than OTM, because of larger delta). So what you thought was a low order could become a high one, and vice versa - but at least you've set the price, not the MM. I feel empirically, but could not begin to prove mathematically, that using an option limit order allows you to take advantage of the 'random noise' in the pricing activity and the underlying's price, and at the very least can serve to nullify the effects of the spread so that you get the mid-point price between the bid and ask much more often than you would otherwise. I know from personal experience that it sure beats chasing the price upwards. -Rose-