Occasionally the algo's cock up and you can see how manipulated the markets are. This just now from CXA. How can this equate to 'best possible price' for the seller? A little nip here, a little tuck there, and the manipulators accumulate huge amounts of profit each year from investors.
So ... the price was ranging between $2.09 and $2.10 and then CXA transact a swag at $2.04. This by-passed the obvious buyer stack (left) and resulted in (i) the seller not getting the best price, and (ii) the stacked buyers missing on on the available shares. 1 second later, via the ASX, the SP was back within the $2.09 - $2.10 range ...
This single trade benefited one party by +$2,000 to the detriment of the other party (45k shares @ 5c). Multiply this millions of times per annum and you can see the potential profit from this manipulation.
The book "Flash Boys" fingers the CXA as a tool of the HFT firms. Why the ASIC allowed CXA into the Australian equity markets is beyond me. Credibility continues to be eroded in markets IMO.
Cheers
John
RRL Price at posting:
$2.10 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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