Ameritrade will allow me to put a stop limit on this one. Somehow I think this automation is what led to yesterdays activity.
Like most people, I do not have the ability to follow the markets during the day with the exception of fridays when I leave work at 11:00. That being the case I often have sell orders in shortly after purchasing and generally leave them in place unless something changes my expectations. I generally don't place stops, but I've been rethinking that approach (even before yesterday!).
My point being, folks generally have orders in and the intraday activity is something they find out about later.
Someone sees that 1.00 come up and says "Ok, I'll sell when (and if) it hits 1.10". Someone else is thinking "Nice run, but if it retraces I'm out at .90".
Someone somewhere has this list of orders on their screen as they are drinking their coffee and waiting for the opening bell.
How much was automated and how much was manipulated I can't say. I don't think it was a DNDN situation (which discolored my shorts a bit, but it was a tuesday and I didn't have any stops set) but who knows?
