Hi Guy's

When investor's buying and selling from the same broker put in their order the system automatically crosses the order so that the broker maximizes their commission.

Orders to buy or sell are taken and prioritized according to when they are received. So if HZMn puts in a buy order for .44 at 8:30 AM with house 2, and he is the first order at that price he gets priority. Now if Brattymack places an order at 9:AM with house 7 at .44 and when the market opens I place a sell order for .44 using house 7 then Bratty gets the shares and HZMN doesn't, even though his order was in first place. The system gives priority to orders from the same house so the brokers can double end the commission from their own customers.

The reason you see the price drop like that is that there may have been a market order on both the buy and the sell side. Think about this for a second. You guy's are more savy than the average Joe investor. You follow the stock and read the boards. You look at the bid/ask to make a decision to buy or sell. Believe it or not most people simply call their broker and tell them to place an order at market. So the trade happens at whatever the cross price is. Seems stupid, but most people are no where near as sophisticated as the people here. Brokers love this as it generates easy commissions and they can take advantage of "slippage" in the price.

I probably explained that badly but someone can please correct me.

..............Carry