I am looking to buy my first stock, it is TLN, and I want to buy about 3300 stocks. Looking at the order book on yahoo, it looks like this:
Bid Price Size
10.46 200
10.45 100
10.44 100
10.43 100
10.42 100
Ask Price Size
10.48 100
10.49 200
10.50 100
10.51 200
10.52 100
From my understanding if I place a market order I will buy shares from the ask side until my order gets fulfilled. Let's say that there are 100 shares for each price point, from 10.48 up to 10.82. That is a 10.65 average price, and it looks like I will pay 0.17*3300 = $561 more that the 10.48 price (today it never went above 10.50, 10.05.13 12:45 PM). On the other hand if I place multiple 100 stocks orders I am certain I will get a price closer to 10.48, but it will cost me $8*33 = $264 in commissions.
$265 is a bargain compared to the $561, not to mention that if I ask 3300 shares I might have to deal with high frequency trading, and end up paying way higher price than what I calculated.
If I place a stop order, the order may never get executed.
This is my first attempt at buying a stock and I might be wrong in many of my assumptions.