Yesterday someone show'd the ' frequency ' of the distributions in chart format which is equally interesting to day.
So if we just look at trades from around 1:30:52 pm today on the ASX only , there were 12 trades for a total volume of around 694286 with 2 of the smallest trades being less than 60 with the largest of 250,000 being the biggest and which followed right after another ' even ' 50,000. In fact of those 12 trades 9 of them went through at 15.5 and at exactly the same time of ASX processing. Just as the 2 smaller trades had gone through within 4 seconds of each other also at 15.5 cents.
But what is also interesting is the ' Shift ' in transactions from the 15.5 to the midpoint trades at 15.75 with the trades starting at 1:30:52 being roughly 2 min , then 1 min , 4 seconds , and all at 15.5 until the 1.5 min interval to 15.75.....then 1 min back to 15.5 , 4 sec's ....then 10 sec's back to 15.75....then ...and here's where it gets interesting a whole minute and a half before ONLY 1 share plus another 33 goes through again at the 15.75 cent level ....and then quite astonishingly not for another WHOLE 2 minutes until the next order goes through at 15.75 as well.
The orders then pivot back to 15.5 cents in around 17 seconds at the 1:42:46 pm time.
So the frequency then becomes more ' regular ' from this point in the day until where we are now with average ' shift ' times between the 15.5 cent and 15.75 ranging anywhere in the main from 1 minute to 2 minutes.
What's even more ridiculous is we again see the ' combination ' of parcels of 1 share and 33 shares going through at 1:50:28 pm for the 1 share and 1:52:27 pm for the 33 shares ....so a WHOLE 2 minutes and not at the same time as 1 and 33 parcels transacted previously.
So why do I find these observations of frequency interesting. Well for starters , the whole notion of the midpoint pricing .....which can only be effectively executed from Broker to Broker trades - would imply that the broker desk and BUY orders or SELL orders which can't be seen in quantity by either party .....would obviously have to ' look-up ' and search if you like the ' Dark Pool ' depth at pretty much the same time as ASX orders would have to look at the ASX pricing in order to satisfy the ' Best Execution Price ' imperative of the ASX.
So granted this ' Look- Up ' processing would takes some element of time why then should we have a scenario where in the absence of further ' Dark Pool ' orders , why should it take 2 minutes for an order to go through at the ASX 15.5 cent level when there is clearly plenty of Buyers in the Queue at that price.
Similarly, how or why does it take the ' Dark Pool ' market 2 minutes to decide whether to SELL 33 shares into it at the same midpoint pricing , when it could have easily executed a trade within those 2 minutes at 15.5 .
And why would anyone put 1 share into the ' Dark Pool ' market in the first place would be my other question I would ask the ASX.
It's really quite interesting with one only being able to surmise that given Both the Higher frequency and volume of trades at the midpoint price as well as the shorter shift backs can really only mean that LESS supply is available at the lowest SELL price with then MORE intent to pay over that price point - ie 16 to 15.5 .....hence 15.75 where it can be achieved.
I mean , the things is though is that we DON'T know how much supply is in the Dark Pool at any given time , however the larger gaps of ' Look -Up ' ASX execution time would indicate that perhaps there is LESS and LESS so because they are predominantly Brokers and brokers are still ASX stakeholders , that they ( the ASX ) give them more time to continue to back-fill the supply.
No doubt there needs to be a thorough Investigation into how and who are predominantly operating in the ' Dark Polls....and how they are perhaps being assisted.
What also ' Muddy's ' the waters is the fact that Chi-x is doing it too.
Having said all that , looks like the ' Supply ' at the midpoint is all but dried up at 15.75 cents.
(20min delay)