Fantomas, I had the same thing happen to me when I tried to buy probe shares. I saw the shares available on level two and my order sat there and did not get filled. I cancelled and tried again. I could not figure out what the issue was with Interactive brokers who is my broker. When you call them you have to wait in priority sequence to get your question answered and I wanted a quick reason as to what happened. I posted this occurance on Probe's site and ElPRIMero reponded with the following which I appreciated knowing. Please see his posting below.
"When I was a floor broker I always played by the rules and my customer came first. If I had a buyer and seller at the same time I always took the honorable road, I just split the difference between them. I took my responsibilities seriously, I was a commission broker not a position trader.
It's not too difficult seeing what's happened here as opposed to the order getting misplaced: the desk or the floor broker is playing with the order. First, you are entitled to at least what the offer was at the time of entry, if your order was on the offer or above it. Or maybe, you got a good broker and he saw the market being heavy and took the chance at working it for a better price, I did that sometimes but the customer, always at the minimum, got what he deserved even if the market ran away from me. If I was working the order, thus delaying a report, I would tell the customer this and that he was stopped. Unfortunately with the way things are today, sometimes you are just treated like chopped liver.
What I have found with some Canadian brokers is that they hold the order, hoping to make a short sale of it to you while they try and buy it lower for themselves. I never liked this type of activity. Once, the price got away from the broker representing my order and the firm tried to stick it to me. I just asked for time and sales and that was the end of that.
I've seen a lot of illegal stuff take place on exchange floors by shaddy brokers. Your money is important to you. Always follow the activity if you are able to do so."
