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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerome who wrote (48739)	7/5/2001 4:30:52 PM
From: LemurHouse	Respond to of 70976

No question that the market makers will jigger the bid/ask depending on how their black arts can best squeeze profit. However, if you are trading in increments of 10 contracts (or less) you are guaranteed an immediate fill if you sell at the bid or buy at the ask. If you have put in a clean limit order for 10 contracts or less to either to sell at the bid or buy at the ask, and you did not receive an immediate fill, then you have cause to speak to your broker about it. These "small" orders are handled under an automated system (who's name escapes me right now) which guarantees immediate execution. It is shared by the various U.S. options exchanges. You'll frequently be filled on multiple exchanges, because if there is not an available counterparty to the trade they spread out the position among the various exchanges. If you care about immediate execution then this is the way to go IMO. I used to tinker around by trying to trade a shade above or below the bid/ask. I would find it extremely vexing to watch the price move away from me as soon as I entered my order, as the option price would move even though there were no apparent changes in the underlying or the general market. Sometimes my tinkering seemed to work, more frequently it didn't. Now, if I like the trade then I usually want an immediate fill and so I trade in increments of 10 or less and I just do it at the bid (or ask). I've never failed to get an immediate fill this way. (A couple of times I thought my order had been passed over, but on investigation I've found that I either just missed the price or that I'd put my order outside the system by using restrictions other than simple limit orders.) FWIW. AD