Those guys on Island had your bid - or the Brown bid, or the bid Brown was pegging to, or the bid of whomever was carrying your order or leaning on your order - right on their screen!


Sure, you get some tradethroughs, or else you wouldn't be there - obviously the only reason to submit to friction or publish at a market center is to win tradethroughs.


But the purpose of Island is to lean on those market centers, to front-run them by a penny. Because every fill they get is free money. Why? Because, believe me, if they wanted to hit your bid they could, in a fraction of a second, much faster than anyone else could hit it or you could cancel it.


So the fact that they are there is irrelevant to you, because you weren't arbing against them or leaning on them were you? Sure, you could hit them if they let you, if they had someone else to lean on. But again, this is adverse selection, where you get paid half a cent to sit there like a backstop, waiting to be picked off when, in reality, the Island guys have it all over you.


Or something like that. Point is, the Island guys were getting a better deal, and you were the one giving it to them. You weren't getting instant free money, because I doubt you ever sold to them once - nor could you have if you wanted to. I'd pay you a half cent to have friction on you all day. You'll be buying the offer in a second. How am I wrong?


eLROY