Singlepoint Inc (SING)

[Hank Chinaski]

I asked an informed trader about t-trades and this is what she replied:

MMs don't have to show all orders. The rules governing that are complicated, and I don't understand them all. But there may at any time be big orders you don't know about. Level II isn't the Rosetta Stone. It doesn't tell you everything. The MMs themselves have Level III, which shows much more about what's going on.

T-trades are executed during the trading session, but not reported until after the bell. Sometimes, the MM just closes out the transaction and prints it shortly before the close. He may even do that earlier in the day. Those trades show on the tape as "out of sequence", or "averaged trades".

T-trades are almost always sells. They don't have to be, but usually they're done by toxic financiers dumping. The seller hires the MM to work off his order. They agree on an average price for the trades, or at least on a desired average price. The idea is not to tank the stock any more than is necessary to execute the trades. That's because the toxic funder is likely to have more to sell, and wants to get the best possible execution. He'll pay the MM about 1.25% of the value of the trades as a fee. Sometimes the MM takes it in stock, which is why the price for the averaged trade may be below the bid.