Post by icemandios on Apr 8, 2024 19:18:47 GMT
Not so long ago, we had Level 2 data. In the interest of a fair and level playing field, the Naz stopped level 2 and replaced it, for the same price, with "Totalview." That's a misnomer.
L2 had data from the CBOE (previously BATY, BATS, EDGX, & EDGA). Totalview doesn't, since the CBOE is a competitor. Those 4 ECN's conduct trading, but their bid/ask data does not appear on Totalview.
This means what is displayed as the best bid/ask pair at any given time may not be the best bid or the best ask at a given time.
Which brings us to the enigmatic Mr Big Guy who appears, today, to be playing both sides and, worse, buying high to sell low. From the SB today:
icemandios: 9:44:34.262 100K at 1.40 flagged "Stock option trade." By the Big Guy. 9:37:48, 4 trades amounting to 100K at 1.40. Also flagged similarly.Big Guy again. 9:51:40 98.4K at 1.41. Same flag, same guy.
icemandios: Big guy is hard to figure. 13:18:39 195,700 sold at the bid 1.39. 13:18:56 143,500 sold at the bid 1.39. But there's a gotcha. See post Uncategorized Stock Mkt Topics.
But is he really playing both sides, buying high and selling low? Or is he jumping on an opportunity to hit a lower ASK on one of the CBOE-owned exchanges? IOW, were those buys made at an ASK of 1.39 over there, while we were seeing an ASK of 1.40 on the Nasdaq's "Totalview?"
One thing I can say for certain is that the combined size of those two trades at 1.39 didn't reduce the size of the BID of 1.39 shown on Totalview one iota.
It's nice to have clarity and a level playing field.........wouldn't it. 
