Ask or Bid -/+ .5 or .10?

[P K 1]

I was just wondering what you guys think about having your orders sent at ask/bid +/- .5, or if you stick to .10? What's your experience on this?

[laurnew 0]

My experience is that .05 is max for me. I've even tried .02 or .03 but it's hard getting filled at those. If I do .10 I can start with a larger loss and it's more difficult to catch up to break even.

[Sean M 3]

I have been using +\- .02 with success for about a week. Missed one fill but I like the tighter gaps. May try .03.

[Lee W 82]

I’ve been using .05 but haven’t tried anything else. I think I’ll give .03 a try.

[P K 1]

Thanks guys

[Jason H. 53]

I have been +/- .05 since I started.

[wpicotte 16]

New-to-trading questions on this:

 

This + / - value essentially provides flexibility on the exact price for a buy or sell order, since the odds of an order with only an exact price getting filled are low, correct?

 

On orders filled at the limit of the setting (in my case, +/- .10), this means that between the time the order is sent and filled, price moves so much that only the far end of the bid / ask range is still valid? Or is there a more accurate explanation?

 

I'm using a DAS sim account and it has been my experience that orders are often filled at the extent of the +/- range.

 

Thanks for any insights.

 

Wesley

[Sean M 3]

Right. You don't want to be stuck in a bad trade because you miss a fill, but it's like insurance. You don't want to be over insured either. The market will always take as much as you will give. It's a balance. I have had pretty good luck at .02 +/-, but I know I'm playing with fire there. I'll probably loosen it up to .03.

[Jason H. 53]

Put another way, if you do a strict limit order you need orders to fill at that exact price, versus if you did a market order instead in which you'll simply get filled at whatever prices are available, even if it's 30 cents above when you clicked the button.

[wpicotte 16]

OK, thanks. Very helpful to know how others address this.