Multi trades - help please22 Oct 2025 09:17
This is not about algorithm bots used extensively by traders within the main indices. It's about presumably manually generated trades that are executed in a series of multi buys and sells at exactly the sametime to the split second.
Most if not on nearly every day there are a few trades of this nature. There do not appear to be especially large .
They appear to be transacted at the top and bottom prices of the price spread at the time. During periods of low volume which currently seems to be most days the b/o spread can exceed 10%. The following example I have made up illustrates my dillema as to why such trades are used here.
Let's assume the trade is for a net buy of 400,000 shares. The price spread is 0.30-33p, a similar spread to that at the time of writing albeit price maybe slightly different currently. The trade goes through in a series of multi buys and sells. Virtually always at the top and bottom of the spread. Let's assume the sells total 100,000 shares and buys 500,000. Therefore 500000 buys at 0.33p = Β£1650, the sells Β£100000at 0.30p = Β£300 ie a net cost of Β£1350. That ignoring charges of course averages at 0.3375 per share.
However as is usually the case the actual dealing buy price is somewhere near the middle. Let's assume 0.32p( I am using a real example of prices yesterday). If transacted in one trade that's 400000 at 0.32p = Β£1280.
I have worked out about a dozen of these in recent days. The result is the same. I find it difficult to think the buyer/seller is that daft in thinking this is the best way to trade. I can only think it's me. What am I missing. Can anyone explain? I was given an answer by the way some time ago which said it was to keep the price stable during a large transaction. In these cases frankly that is rubbish imo. As I said at the start these transactions are not particularly large in net volume . Thanks.