January 26, 2010
I trade actively on a daily basis in our markets. Since 2001 I have used a passive liquidity providing style for my order entries. I have stopped providing liquidity due to the flash orders and sub penny pricing that front runs my orders as well as dark pools that disguise transparency. I noticed that I would only get an execution if I was wrong in the short term direction of the market and if I was right I would get no fill but I would see what should have been my execution go by on the price ticker in a sub penny increment just .001 in front of my order stealing my fill. My understanding is that only broker dealers can enter orders in sub penny prices and can only do it in dark pools. I do not find this to be a fair practice. In fact isnt broker dealers trading against their customers a conflict more than a service? The big broker dealers want to drive everyone out of the market so they can do with it what they will and it is working. I give my opinions to many friends and family members on what investments I make and I used to provide them with stocks that I researched and believed held value. I no long do this and tell them all to stay out of the stock market until the corruption is cleaned up. I tell them to stick to small businesses or real estate now. The stock market is more corrupt than boxing.