3 ms·
> That trade will be complete before the market "sees" you are trying to buy a ton. That's not how the market works. There are not enough open sell orders at a
by jjav 3y ago
> That trade will be complete before the market "sees" you are trying to buy a ton.
That's not how the market works. There are not enough open sell orders at any price (let alone a little above most recent price) for someone to sweep in and buy 51% (or even just a few percent) at once.
As soon as more than a trivial (in the noise) amount of your buys goes through all the open sell orders will start to move up in price (since it's nearly all automated), so you'll be chasing that ever-increasing price a long way up.
- mort96 3y agoAnd the sell orders will move in a matter of microseconds, right? It's not just automated trading, it's automated high frequency trading, where trading firms employ armies of excellent low-level programmers to shave off clock cycles from the trading algorithms to be the first company to react to market changes.
- jjav 3y agoYes, it is fun to watch this in the level 2 quotes (although the true high frequency stuff is surely in and out before it has time to show up, I assume). Put an order at the bid or the ask (depending on direction) and move it up or down a penny and watch all the other nearby open orders instantly reshuffle.