r/wallstreetbets • u/TonyBerdata27 • Feb 04 '25

Gain Made $18k in less than 1 minute by accidentally sniping mispriced ask

I put in a large market order this morning, and somehow bought 1.9k shares at 75 cents each while the stock was actually trading for ~10$

I cropped out the ticker because it has <300M MC, but had to share this because this is so unbelievably regarded that I think I might have bought off one of you guys.

TLDR: I stole someone's shares for 90% discount because they probably mis-entered their limit order.

7.2k Upvotes

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553

u/TonyBerdata27 Feb 04 '25

I'm confused about this as well

my guess is because I put in a market order that made up a large % of the daily volume for this stock, my order was the only one being worked on the book and took priority?

hope fidelity doesn't ask for it back

521

u/Just_Process8411 Feb 04 '25

Hi. I’m fidelity. I want the money back ASAP.

135

u/alex206 Feb 04 '25

Hello dear, we need it paid back in Apple gift cards otherwise you're going to jail

46

u/rjbarn small brain, smaller peen Feb 04 '25

I am the FBI. I also need payment in gift cards or cashapp. If not, I’ll send the cops

18

u/Ok_One_8106 Feb 04 '25

Do not redeem

8

u/SkyHighExpress Feb 04 '25

WHY ARE YOU REDEEMING MF

36

u/BlitzcrankGrab Feb 04 '25

Alarm! This guy is NOT Fidelity. Fidelity will never contact you directly. This is a scam. I know this because I am Fidelity. Give the money back to me.

10

u/Woke_Pirate Feb 04 '25

And I’m infidelity and your wife’s boyfriend wants his money back as well.

66

u/Greenpeppers23 Feb 04 '25

This is insane! Yea your order just happened to be enter precisely the same time this guy sold. No way fidelity can ask for this back.

13

u/UnluckyStartingStats Feb 04 '25

Can't you just as easily get fucked on market orders if spread is wide?

11

u/nitpickr Feb 04 '25

Yes. The ask could also have been 100.75 and then the post would have had a different tune.

6

u/Competitive_Jacket74 Feb 04 '25

how is this possible on a limit order? Wouldn't that act as an upper bound?

5

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Competitive_Jacket74 Feb 04 '25

thanks for clarifying

1

u/creamystapler Feb 05 '25

So could you have made a limit order with the limit set to $1 to buy only the 1900 shares?

51

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

was your order placed and waiting for a while before being filled or was it filled when you sent it?

this doesn’t make sense if your order was sent after the sellers because the market makers would have just taken those shares

92

u/TonyBerdata27 Feb 04 '25

Seller had to have entered their order while mine was being worked already, as you can see in the second photo this was ~2 mins into it being filled

200

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

yeah they probably meant to limit order for $10.75 and forgot the 1. your order was so big on an illiquid stock it bypassed the market maker and went straight to you

256

u/sdas99 Feb 04 '25

He got a little taste of citadel’s business model here, must be nice

49

u/rendingale Feb 04 '25

This is so true

51

u/Icy_Communication262 Feb 04 '25

Mods, we literally have our own Shitadel! Can we get this guy a flair?

53

u/TonyBerdata27 Feb 04 '25

They have thousands of quants developing algorithms to trade in ten-thousandths of a second, Me, an experienced wsb soldier, I just press the buy button. Market buy .

63

u/drumsplease987 Feb 04 '25

Market makers submit their bid/ask price/quantity to the exchange like everyone else. If this ticket doesn’t have a market maker OR OP’s order exceeded the market maker’s initial ask and a new ask wasn’t placed, then the exchange will facilitate trades as they come in.

Definitely an unusual move by OP to place a market order with a greater quantity than all outstanding asks.

/u/TonyBerdata27 you got lucky that they didn’t typo for 100.75 or you would have lost $162k.

12

u/bonkerseastcoast Feb 04 '25

this ticket is under OTCM so there are market makers like citadel

2

u/voxpopper Feb 04 '25

Pretty unusual, if it was a tute may try to bust the trade, OP is not out of the woods yet.

11

u/bonkerseastcoast Feb 04 '25

not really, fidelity system will choose the lowest ask during a market buy. if there was no one other than the person selling the 10$ share at 100$ yes maybe. But I bet there were many market makers asking above the market price like in any stock market

14

u/drumsplease987 Feb 04 '25

 I bet there were many market makers asking above the market price like in any stock market

In that case OP would have been paying above market price for his oversized market order, and my advice still stands.

There’s no magic “fidelity system” that protects you from overpaying on market orders that exceed the current ask quantity, which is exactly what OP did. Look at the timestamps. Market orders will fill instantly unless there is no counterparty at all.

13

u/CubeBrute Feb 04 '25

That doesn’t make sense, even if OP ate the sell side of the order book, the ask side would still be untouched

Unless there was literally no other asks

30

u/BVVanceRefrigeration Feb 04 '25

^ this. Also it would mean the share price would have legitimately went from $10 to .75 instantly which would have triggered halts.

Also, any counterparty could sue for not following NBBO.

He 100% bought from a market maker who wholesales (citadel, virtu, etc) and their system fucked up. 0% chance it came from a real participant.

1

u/FatherofHobbes Feb 05 '25

This makes the most sense. If going thru a retail site the EMM probably filled it manually missing the “1” in front. Hard to believe that there was no one else to lift the offer higher; and lol yes that absolutely would have halted the stock

5

u/chainer3000 Feb 04 '25

That’s insane

3

u/mypizzanvrhurtnobody Feb 04 '25

Makes perfect sense. So so regarded.

9

u/shadi150 Feb 04 '25

It happened to me last year with PAA calls (I think it was PAA). I did a market order and it filled like 25% lower. No idea how it happened but it was lit lol. Seems like it only happens to things that are low volume. Considering yours is >$300M MC then I can come to the conclusion that it’s likely low volume as well. I know that’s not always the case but I know my trade was for sure low volume.

You got your shit for pennies though, good shit.

6

u/jtbee629 Feb 04 '25

Happened to me once. Only made out with like 3k but they never asked and it’s been about 2 years since

5

u/Altruistic-Cat-7531 Feb 04 '25

FREEEEZE! Book ‘em boys.

3

u/buffandbrown Feb 04 '25

Either withdraw funds immediately or change brokerage right away.

1

u/Highborn_Hellest Feb 04 '25

i mean asking back for it is one thing, but taking it away would be another. If somebody fucks up it's not exactly your responsibility.

0

u/NiceRelease5684 Feb 04 '25

The trade should be broken/cancelled by the exchange. Accidents and errors happen. It's not his responsibility, but he shouldn't get to benefit from an incorrect price.

1

u/ToosUnderHigh Feb 04 '25

Oh ok. My dumb ass thought you could search through different asks

1

u/sketchfag Feb 04 '25

This is fucking weird

1

u/New_Possible_284 Feb 04 '25

You won’t be able to sell it

1

u/satireplusplus Feb 04 '25

Warning: Your counter party can file an erroneous trade claim (=fat finger) and get the shares back. But they need to act quickly. If the money is still in your account in a few days its yours. Until then, be careful, they might reverse the trade in your account, i.e. you're going to be short shares then.

Here's an example from of someone complaining about it lol: https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/wm8uuw/wtf_trading_mistakes_call_cboe_to_get_them/

In that example, it was 0-day options, he sold them at a price that was way out of market (like your trade) and then it got reversed. He then had worthless 0-day options in his account.

1

u/payinexactchange Feb 04 '25

u/TonyBerdata27 What'd you buy, Snapchat?

1

u/d33p7r0ubl3 Positions or ban Feb 04 '25

They will ask for it back. Trust. You need to get your money out asap

1

u/MacaronBeginning1424 Feb 04 '25

I don’t think they can ask for it back

-14

u/mpoozd Feb 04 '25

This looks like an erroneous trade. If the other person complains of the broker finds out, the order will be cancelled and reverted back.

35

u/Jelopuddinpop Feb 04 '25

Wait, I'm new to this, but that's... a thing? "Yeah, I fucked up a decimal point on my limit sell, and just nuked my port. Takesy backsy??"

11

u/aHOMELESSkrill Feb 04 '25

Have I been doing it wrong all along?

1

u/Throwaway_6799 Feb 04 '25

MM's hate this one simple trick!

4

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

You're getting downvoted, but that has absolutely happened before, though maybe not on orders this small

5

u/VPCompliance Feb 04 '25

Yeah, they’ll break the trade. Have seen this multiple times.