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

To: RoseCampion who wrote (51224)	11/20/1999 9:42:00 PM
From: jmac	Respond to of 152472

I know about this and have a firm that gets the quotes from all the floors. But, to route, I have to pay a premium over the discounted rate I get and i don't wish to do that. So far, I haven't had problems getting my orders filled at prices I have desired. But, then again, the Q hasn't disappointed too many bulls over the past 2 months.

To: RoseCampion who wrote (51224)	11/21/1999 8:09:00 AM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Respond to of 152472

Rose, re: seeking the best price for an option, Fidelity has a special options group that can look at the bid/ask prices on all of the different exchanges. Often there is a disparity, and in QCOM's case, with the spreads so large right now, that disparity can be as large as several points. For example, the ask for the Dec300 call (as of close Friday) was 76.75 on CBOE, and 79.5 on the Pacific--a difference of 2.75. That's $275 in plain English. That is such a bizarre disparity I wonder if it's a typo (normally, the disparity would be on the order of like 1/8), but you can check it out at quote.cboe.com Note that this is not even the spread; it is just the disparity between the ask prices on the different exchanges. That means if your order went as a market order to the Pacific, instead of CBOE and you are buying 10 contracts, that would make a difference of $2750, just because you bought your eggs at Von's instead of Safeway. (I think the default policy, at Fidelity at least, is to route all market orders to the CBOE [except, of course, for issues that only trade elsewhere].) Of course, the difference is likely to be smaller, like half a point for QCOM, or 1/8 or 1/4 point for your typical stock. I think that is a pretty extreme example, but within the realm of possibility. Of course, if you submit a limit order, you avoid this problem. Your order will problably be routed to CBOE, and it will fill if and when the limit is hit (if they get around to trading it before it gets out of limit range). If you want to submit a market order, but have a better chance of getting a decent price, it may help to deal with a broker who can look at the prices on all the exchanges, and route your order to the best exchange with your approval. They can do this with market or limit orders. What I might do is, if underlying has fallen to the point where I'm a buyer, call up the broker and ask for the asks on the different exchanges. Then have the broker submit a limit order which is equal to the best ask price, routed to the exchange where the best ask is showing. Best to ask your broker for details. Not just any option broker will do this.