Q: Hi, I noticed that in Wednesday's trading, around noon, someone placed two large BUY orders at $75.80, for 30k and 18k shares (Total trade value $3.6 mln ). Stock later traded down to $75.51. Within an hour, after the orders were filled, Someone placed exactly the same two SELL orders at $76.20, for 30k and 18k shares. The stock bounced back up and both Sell orders were filled just before market close. These were not Block Trades, as there were multiple sellers/buyers for all four orders. CIBC World Market was the broker, both for initial buy orders and later sell orders.
Assuming (safely), that both buy/sell orders originated from the same party, the trades resulted in a net profit of $19k, on a trade value of $3.6 mln. Are these, Day Traders ( using Margin or not ), making money on a small arbitrage? Is this type of activity not uncommon during volatile trading of a stock, like today ? Does it have a relevance to large interest in ATD stock, Or, there is just not much to read here ? I am just curious and trying to educate myself. Thank You
Assuming (safely), that both buy/sell orders originated from the same party, the trades resulted in a net profit of $19k, on a trade value of $3.6 mln. Are these, Day Traders ( using Margin or not ), making money on a small arbitrage? Is this type of activity not uncommon during volatile trading of a stock, like today ? Does it have a relevance to large interest in ATD stock, Or, there is just not much to read here ? I am just curious and trying to educate myself. Thank You
5i Research Answer:
There is no way to determine exactly what occurred. The trade amounts do not require any disclosure. While it could have been the same party involved, it also very possibly could not have been, and we would not simply assume it was. There were only five block trades (10,000 shares of more) during the day, prior to nine market at close blocks at 4:00PM. ATD typically trades in a tight range, but the day's range was $3.40 per share, opening up a lot more trading possibilties. Volume doubled from the prior day as well, so liquidity was good for traders. But we would not read anything into this.