Bobbyinvest posted this last night to me quoted below, I will respond here Bobby.
As I just posted computershare would classify as a dark pool.
But , shares sold posting in-between bid and ask, like the one highlighted below, in my opinion.
Some bids do not show because the are either too small for the MM to post or or all or none. These are hidden from l2.
For example under 10c, bids with 9000 will not show on l2. So some will put a bid in right above the best bid with 9000 but hidden from l2 or with 10000+ with an all-or-none order. I noticed this more buying and selling with etrade, most orders don't hit the bid or ask since you can use allornone option with them (and not tda or some others). The MM might sell in-house first before then going to others.
Also, so MMs like CDEL are also running a hedge fund. If your order goes to CDEL, they might post your order to l2, but keep it when it gets hit, if the algorithm feels they can flip those shares for a quick profit. CDEL is the worst for keeping shares on orders I post. If I post an order for 10,000, they usually keep the first 10,000 and only then will give me shares. I've seen then again and again with them, to the point I cancel my order if it get routed to them. I've noticed etrade does this also, but it depends on the direction, i.e. if most are buying, then I can sell easily but my bid order never get filled, even if I have the best bid on l2, it is the only shares, and the bid gets hit for that number of shares.
As I just posted computershare would classify as a dark pool.
But , shares sold posting in-between bid and ask, like the one highlighted below, in my opinion.
Some bids do not show because the are either too small for the MM to post or or all or none. These are hidden from l2.
For example under 10c, bids with 9000 will not show on l2. So some will put a bid in right above the best bid with 9000 but hidden from l2 or with 10000+ with an all-or-none order. I noticed this more buying and selling with etrade, most orders don't hit the bid or ask since you can use allornone option with them (and not tda or some others). The MM might sell in-house first before then going to others.
Also, so MMs like CDEL are also running a hedge fund. If your order goes to CDEL, they might post your order to l2, but keep it when it gets hit, if the algorithm feels they can flip those shares for a quick profit. CDEL is the worst for keeping shares on orders I post. If I post an order for 10,000, they usually keep the first 10,000 and only then will give me shares. I've seen then again and again with them, to the point I cancel my order if it get routed to them. I've noticed etrade does this also, but it depends on the direction, i.e. if most are buying, then I can sell easily but my bid order never get filled, even if I have the best bid on l2, it is the only shares, and the bid gets hit for that number of shares.
Quote:I just read a recent post on IH authored by you. I would like to add that I observed - today that there definitely was a dark pool of shares active. It could be Paulson managing it or one of those funds maybe 3M cap they seem to sell all the time. The MM was selective on filling higher bids than mine with shares that were not on the LVL 2. Anyways, I am writing this with certainty.
I wouldn’t say that this is a bad thing, usually dark pools are institutional and professional traders in prop shops would have access to that, as it’s not cheap to acquire this capability.
