Bypassing the iceberg....Warning, stream on consciousness post
posted on
Feb 10, 2016 01:06AM
I've posted before some of the stuff I've come to discover, like about Iceberg orders.
My understanding of an Iceberg order is that L-II will only show a portion of the order. That is to say, that if there's a buyer who wants to buy....for sake of argument we'll say its for 50,000 shares, and is looking to get in at a price of $1.65 or under.
Rather than have all 500 lots show up on the bid, which might raise some eyebrows among those watching RVX....the order book will show maybe 5 as the tip of the iceberg, while the other 495 are hidden below the surface out of view. They're still there of course, but some retail player looking at the order book won't see them.
And of course the same applies to someone selling....instead of advertising a desire to sell 500 blocks, 5 will show up with 495 hidden.
Which brings me to Tuesday's close of trading:
02/09/2016 3:33 PM EST | W | 1.65 | 1,100 | 0.04 | TSX | 085 | 001 |
02/09/2016 3:33 PM EST | W | 1.63 | 900 | 0.02 | TSX | 085 | 014 |
02/09/2016 3:33 PM EST | W | 1.62 | 600 | 0.01 | TSX | 085 | 009 |
02/09/2016 3:33 PM EST | W | 1.60 | 300 | -0.01 | TSX | 085 | 001 |
Notice that all the buys are made by 085, Scotia, with 3 different sellers on 4 trades. Two trades by Anonymous and the other two by BMO and some outfit called ITG. And notice too that all 4 trades have the W marker indicating a bypass trade.
Stockwatch defines the W marker thusly: Regulatory Trade – indicating the "hidden" or iceberg portion of the order was not satisfied..
Could it be that we have a big buyer using 085 Scotia, and employing Iceberg orders so as not to tip his hand?
Then again maybe my bullish opinion is causing me to grasp for data to suppport my bullish view.