Archive for adding and removing liquidity
Adding Liquidity / Removing Liquidity Explanation
Posted by: | CommentsHey Traders,
Alot of people have recently asked me for an explanation of adding/removing liquidity in the stock market as well as how orders are routed. Below is a basic description with the resulting rebates as well as additional charges above your commission rate that many don’t realize even exist:
Adding vs. Taking Liquidity vs. Outbound.
The term “Add Liquidity” refers to sending an order to an ECN at a price which is not immediately executable. The order sits on an ECN’s order book until the market moves to that price, at which point the order executes. You can think of this as a limit order.
EXAMPLE: The inside market in XYZ is $20.01 X $20.05. If you place a buy order at $20.04 or below, the order will sit on the order book until another market participant is willing to sell at that price. Alternately, you can place a sell order at $20.02 or higher and your order will sit on the order book until another market participant is willing to buy at that price. Buying on the bid and selling at the offer is referred to as adding liquidity.
The term “Remove Liquidity” refers to sending an order at a price which is immediately executable. A buy order is sent with a price equal to or higher than the current offer and a sell order is priced equal to or lower than the current bid. You can think of this as a market or marketable limit order.
EXAMPLE: Using the example from above, the inside market in XYZ is $20.01 X $20.05. If you place a buy order at $20.05 or higher you will immediately execute at the current offer. If you place a sell order at $20.01 or lower you will immediately execute on the current bid. Buying at the offer or selling on the bid is referred to as removing liquidity. (Keep in mind that some venues can have hidden orders. Executions against existing hidden orders are still considered removing liquidity).
The term “Outbound” refers to an order which is routed from its original destination to another venue.
EXAMPLE: You send an order to ARCA to buy XYZ at $20.05 while NSDQ is displaying an offer to sell at $20.04. ARCA will route your order to NSDQ for execution at the better price. This order routing is referred to as outbound.
Hope that helps! Cheers!
