RE:RE:RE:TSX YTY market depthogieboogeyman wrote: why would the bids then disappear completely then reappear and that happens over and over.
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If it's self-directed retail traders, probably because they are changing their bids and quantities in reaction to price fluctuations or entering different price/quantity combinations trying to get their order to fill. Enter a bid, cancel it, enter a new one... repeat.
When I'm buying, I'll try a lower bid for a higher quantity first and then when that doesn't fill after a few minutes, I'll up the bid and lower the quantity. If I want to buy NOW, I'll keep doing that until the price/quantity numbers click and the order fills.
As we all do, I try to get in low, so I'm -
usually- confident that the stock has bottomed at a support level before I ante up. Knowing that, I try several price/quantity combinations centered around the actual SP until something hits. A few % lower than current SP is great but a few % higher isn't going to kill me when that price is still basically at the stock's low point.
Sometimes it's better to pay that extra penny for a few thousand less shares than to not have a position at all.