RE:There's that obligatory last trade downtick ...
mesa1
I phoned IIROC the other day and complained about the MOC process allowing small orders to set the closing price. I said that the rules used to be very strict about allowing orders at the last few seconds strictly to influence the closing price. The MOC process is used to allow orders that cannot get filled in regular trading to declare if there is an imbalance near the close which allows time for orders to build up and offset the imbalance. It is suppose to reduce the volatility at/near the close. My question was why then are we allowing small orders to even use the MOC process when it can be and is clearly abused to set the closing price. Small orders do NOT need to use the MOC process and can be easily filled in regular trading. This really only makes much difference on relatively thin stocks. I told them that the shysters now have a non risk way to circumvent the closing price rules and that there should be a minimum number of shares allowed, that would stop the 100 share closing BS. Pretty sure that it fell on deaf ears.