What are the chances Iweb trade completed?

BrockStoker

Hello all,


Earlier today just before market open, I setup my first individual share buy order. I wanted to buy Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) and set a limit of $290.65, which was 1c over the last closing price.


Does anyone know if this deal would have completed, seeing as at open, the price immediately went up (and has stayed up, so far).


Unfortunately, later on I tried to log in to Iweb again, and could not remember all my security details, so I now have to wait for them to send me a new password, which might take a few days.

Thrugelmir

Does anyone know if this deal would have completed, seeing as at open, the price immediately went up (and has stayed up, so far).

Improbable for obvious reasons.

wmb194

Assuming you haven't turned the feature off, normally iWeb will send a trade confirmation by email.

coyrls

If you set a limit order, you are in a queue behind all the market orders.

BrockStoker

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Improbable for obvious reasons.

Thanks. Was not sure if the trade would "kick in" at the open or not. Seemed like a possibility to me, but sounds like it's not the case.


Live and learn. I guess I will have to set the limit much higher if I encounter a similar situation next time.

BrockStoker

wmb194 wrote: »

Assuming you haven't turned the feature off, normally iWeb will send a trade confirmation by email.

I was wondering if that was the case. Thanks for confirming. I guess that email is usually more or less immediate?

bowlhead99

coyrls wrote: »

If you set a limit order, you are in a queue behind all the market orders.

And if the market opens up from the previous day's close due to the weight of buy orders against sell orders at the opening bell, so that the opening market price is over $292, you can take a pretty good guess at how successful or unsuccessful you'll be with an order to your broker which says, "I'd like some stock, but the limit of what I'm willing to pay for it is $290.65".

BrockStoker wrote: »

Live and learn. I guess I will have to set the limit much higher if I encounter a similar situation next time.

In future if you actually want the stock and the market is closed it's probably worth setting a higher limit. Your order was the equivalent of the following conversation with the broker:

"I want some shares please"
"Ok, how much do you want them"
"Not very much. If they cost 0.004% more than yesterday's closing mid-price, I don't want them"

BrockStoker

coyrls wrote: »

If you set a limit order, you are in a queue behind all the market orders.

Thanks for the info. I guess then it's best to not set a limit, but then you aren't guaranteed the price you want.



I guess I will need to think more about my buying strategy!

BrockStoker

bowlhead99 wrote: »

And if the market opens up from the previous day's close due to the weight of buy orders against sell orders at the opening bell, so that the opening market price is over $292, you can take a pretty good guess at how successful or unsuccessful you'll be with an order to your broker which says, "I'd like some stock, but the limit of what I'm willing to pay for it is $290.65".



In future if you actually want the stock and the market is closed it's probably worth setting a higher limit. Your order was the equivalent of the following conversation with the broker:

"I want some shares please"
"Ok, how much do you want them"
"Not very much. If they cost 0.004% more than yesterday's closing mid-price, I don't want them"

Thanks, that makes good sense. I guess I was a little over optimistic!

bowlhead99

BrockStoker wrote: »

Thanks for the info. I guess then it's best to not set a limit, but then you aren't guaranteed the price you want.



I guess I will need to think more about my buying strategy!

Well, you're not guaranteed the price you want if nobody's willing to sell to you for the price you want.

You could put the limit order in for $400 and then you won't end up paying more than that, but you won't pay as much as that if a lower price is practically available - your broker still owes you a duty of 'best execution' so won't buy you stock at $399 when it's trading at $300, even if you've said you'll pay up to that much.

george4064

Its worth mentioning the difference between a limit order and a 'fill or kill' order, you mention you placed a limit order but often people get confused between the two.

A limit order stays in the market at your set price for the time period you choose, and if the offer price is at or below your limit price and there are sufficient shares available your order will be executed and the shares purchased. Note that the share price might briefly dip below your limit order price but your order may not be filled, either because it only momentarily dropped below your limit price or there are not enough shares available to fill your order.

On the other hand, a fill or kill order is when at the next market open your broker will go to the market and try to purchase the number of shares you have specified at your set price (or less). If they are unable to fill your order (either price too high or not enough shares available) they will 'kill' your order, which ends it and you will be notified of this. Otherwise if there are enough shares available at or below your set price your order will be filled.