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Today I had an order where I sold 4150 shares. It took about 2 minutes to sell all the shares. I could see the stock at my price limit and down 1 or 2 cents and back... it went up and down that way a few times.

However, while the sale was happening, it felt like some other people were also selling at my price. I could understand that happening before and after, but my understanding is that if I put one order with a limit, say $13.31, then anyone okay to buy at $13.31 or more will first receive my stock (once I sold 1 or more shares) until all my stock is gone, even if someone tries to buy at $13.3101 (in which case I get the extract 1/100th of a penny for my shares, but that's somewhat beyond the point here).

Is my understanding incorrect?

Would someone selling at $13.3101, even if placing their order after mine, still have their stock sold before mine?

Note: The trading system I use may somewhat be what makes it feel like I lost my position at some points. They show the price changes once per second, to the penny, and the filled order may take a few more seconds before appearing on the screen. So all of that may have somewhat clouded my poor little brain...

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    One reason: money.stackexchange.com/questions/95606/… Another reason could be that your broker charges a spread.
    – littleadv
    Dec 21, 2022 at 1:14
  • @littleadv I saw that post, it appeared in my list of suggestions. I know I am not charge anything other than the regulatory fee on a sale (by selling at +$0.01 it is transparent to me and that works pretty much all the time). I don't think that would be it. From the graph, I also could not see anything over the $13.3100 around that period (the graph does show me the 1/100th of a penny).
    – Alexis Wilke
    Dec 21, 2022 at 14:58

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Today I had an order where I sold 4150 shares. It took about 2 minutes to sell all the shares. I could see the stock at my price limit and down 1 or 2 cents and back... it went up and down that way a few times.

If your offer is the lowest price then you will be the ask price in the NBBO quote. If someone places a limit order to sell at a better price than you offered, price will drop and they will replace you in the quote. If their order fills and no one else is lower than you, NBBO will revert back to you.

However, while the sale was happening, it felt like some other people were also selling at my price. I could understand that happening before and after, but my understanding is that if I put one order with a limit, say $13.31, then anyone okay to buy at $13.31 or more will first receive my stock...

Orders are filled based on time and price. If you're first in line at the best NBBO price, you get filled first, up to a point. Complicating this might be routing for Payment of Order Flow, lack of Smart Routing, and Dark Pools. NBBO isn't perfectly efficient.

The fractional cent fill ($13.3101) tends to be due to maker/taker fees.

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  • Ah. That explain a lot, thank you! I was able to place some orders with fractional cent fill, but only when I don't myself enter the value. (i.e. the system I use will pick the most current number and it may include fractional cents)
    – Alexis Wilke
    Dec 21, 2022 at 20:16

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