Buy order not executed

[wondering]

I have question that perhaps reveals my ignorance.

 

I put in a buy order for 50 shares of FAH.U at 11.05 US this morning expiring in 24 hours.  At the time, the bid was 11.03, and the ask was 11.35.  Later that morning a bunch of stock sold at 11.35.  Fine, I get it - someone outbidded me.

 

In early afternoon, the stock sold again for 11.10 and then 11.02 (@ 100 shares)

 

Why wasn't my order executed if I had bid for 11.05?  I have enough cash in my broker account to cover the converted Cdn purchase.  I use RBC Direct brokerage.

[boilermaker75]

Maybe the sell, and the buy, were AON (all or none)?

[writser]

I think it has to do with 50 shares being an odd lot order. No expert on US / Canada market structure but I think odd-lot orders are not displayed in the order book and thus not in the NBBO so if somebody trades on another venue than where your odd lot is held there is no obligation to fill your order. Again, not sure about the details but that's basically the gist of it afaik. Odd lot orders are treated differently than round lots (i.e. multiples of 100 shares). Maybe there are some experts here. Or you could try bothering your broker.

[benhacker]

Writser has it.  your 50 order isn't display.  If an *unfilled* ask appears on NBBO below your bid, while your order is open, you would have executed, but because that didn't happen, your order wasn't done.

 

This statement applies to most major exchanges, but certainly some exceptions... all OTC exchanges can be wilder than this simple model.

[rb]

Yep. It's because it was an odd lot. It's really hard to do odd lots on thinly traded securities like FAH.

[wondering]

Thanks everyone.  I will keep this in mind in the future

[Seanzy]

Isn't there also an order queue, which is essentially having to wait in line if someone placed an order before you did but at the same price? So even if you had placed a round lot order for 100 shares, but someone had placed the order at the same price before you, wouldn't theirs fill first?

[writser]

Sure, but price takes precedence over time. The topicstarter said that he entered a buy order at $11.05 that didn't get filled but the stock traded at $11.02. That would be impossible with a round lot order (ignoring some specialist / dealer markets like OTC and AIM).

[TwoCitiesCapital]

I also think it could have something to do with your broker. Some brokers sell their order flow and so maybe the best price wasn't available to the broker/wholesaler you're using if their directing the flow elsewhere? Not 100% sure how that system works, but used to have frequent problems like this at Scottrade and not so much at Interactive Brokers so it certainly seems that the broker matters in this regard and that it may not simply be the odd-lot nature.