A lot of these observations are assumptions and nothing more.
There is no software which will show a retail trader, or even broker, which broker is placing an order. For instance, Commsec can only see Commsec (client) and CBA insto orders. It's not the software, it's the trading rules at the ASX which limit it. In the past futures screens would show you the broker placing the trade, but not which client. This was discontinued (5-10) years ago.
Some assume that the brokers and/or instos are involved because of the size of the orders, or the type of the order ie "condcodes".
The "bots" that appear are sometimes nothing more than "icebeg" orders. The icebergs are used to trade "largish" orders in "illiquidish" stocks. These sorts of orders are available to retail traders through some brokers.
However, there are some strategies that brokers like to do which are infrequent amongst retail punters - such as trying to predict what stocks will be next included in the S&P indexes...ie quarterly when the indices are re-worked.
Some of the stocks which trade in half increments ( ie .5c above $2 and .25c less than $2) are generally only available to larger clients. This is my pet peeve.
Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of small stocks that have run up massively and then dropped hard without testing EOD levels. Not unusual for this to happen on a "now and again" basis, but there has been so many, that it's currently a statistical aberration. So this can also create assumptions about broker/insto behavior.
