In the process of buying CTEQF yesterday, I learned something new.
I wanted to buy a good chunk of shares. I called Fidelity and they put me through to the international trading desk. They told me that I could place a limit order or market order and that they would forward the order to the ASX for trading Sunday night, their Monday morning. The cost would have been about $223.00.
The other option was to buy in our OTC market and that an additional $50 charge would apply to each order that was fully or partially filled. This was around 1:05 ET and only 11,000 shares had traded. The bid was 1000 shares @ .525 and the ask was 1,000 shares at .56. I told the representative that it looked like it would be impossible to buy what I wanted with such low volume and that I would end up with a ton of additional $50 fees.
This is what was new to me. The representative asked how many shares I wanted and what I would be willing to pay. I told him 54,000 shares @ .55. He then told me to hold while he checked with the market maker. He came back on the line and said the market maker will fill that order. So, I placed the order and it filled within seconds.
I have seen plenty of blocks trade on stocks with a low number of shares on the bid and ask, but, it never dawned on me to prearrange a transaction in this manner. Now I know!
