TraderPete
01-03-2005, 03:53 PM
I've always wondered how much visibility stop orders have on the open market. For example, if I own 100 shares of ABC (long) at 51.25 and have a (sell) stop order at 51.10, there are times when it seems as if the market dives down, takes out my stop and heads back up again.
My understanding of a stop order, however, is that it only is visibile to the market once the price has been hit, at which point it becomes a market order and is, of course, visible to the open market only at that point. If this is the case, then the stops are truly hidden, and any notion of the market seeing and "taking out" a stop is just paranoia.
So, my question is this - who sees the stop order? If it is the broker only,are there cases where a trader working for the broker can "take out the stop" himself?
Ultimately, then, would it make sense for Ninja Trader to have functionality where the stop order does not even get sent to the broker until a certain price point is hit? Or, would this be redundant, since the stop order is supposed to be kept secret anyway until the stop price is hit?
Thanks for your discussion on this issue.
- Pete
My understanding of a stop order, however, is that it only is visibile to the market once the price has been hit, at which point it becomes a market order and is, of course, visible to the open market only at that point. If this is the case, then the stops are truly hidden, and any notion of the market seeing and "taking out" a stop is just paranoia.
So, my question is this - who sees the stop order? If it is the broker only,are there cases where a trader working for the broker can "take out the stop" himself?
Ultimately, then, would it make sense for Ninja Trader to have functionality where the stop order does not even get sent to the broker until a certain price point is hit? Or, would this be redundant, since the stop order is supposed to be kept secret anyway until the stop price is hit?
Thanks for your discussion on this issue.
- Pete