Beginning 16 years ago with the most active stocks, securities authorities required over-the-counter marketmakers to electronically display bids and offers that bettered their own quotes. Last year the display rule was extended to the smallest of small stocks, the ones that used to be quoted in the Pink Sheets. Nowadays you might still see a fat spread on a stock that trades only a few thousand shares a day. But you can go in the middle with your offer to buy at $20.25. The pros can respond in one of two ways. They can let you have your way; you capture any shares that become available at that price. Or they can get in front of you with a bid of $20.255.
The pros can upstage you only so long, however. If there are a lot of sellers happy to exit at $20.25, the marketmakers will get their fill. With their inventory overloaded they will eventually have to drop their bids. Then you get the next batch of shares. Patience is called for. Chase a stock and you will overpay. http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2012/12/10/o-t-c-trading-for-experienced-investors/
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