Hidden Orders with Broker Vs. NT Simulated Stop orders

[AntiMatter]

I'm just wondering about the relative merits of Pro's and Con's of these two methods. Both have the main goal of hiding your stop order from the market place. For the purposes of this post, I am just considering a simple stop, rather than trying to do something more interesting/complex (e.g. a delayed stop)


Taking IB as an example of a hidden stop order:

http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/?f=%2Fen%2Ftrading%2Forders%2Fhidden.php%3Fib_entity%3Dllc

"You want to buy 5000 shares of XYZ but don't want your order to affect or be seen by other traders in the market. Display the Hidden field from the Layout Manager, and check the Hidden attribute in the order line. Your order is submitted but evidence of the order is hidden from the market." Such an order is available for most products.

In most instance, a hidden stop order with the broker should be preferable - there is no need to worry about disconnects. The only major reason I can envisage for using a NT encoded simulated stop (other than do something unusual/interesting) is if we do not trust our broker.

Is this correct? Or are there other advantages or things I am missing?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello AntiMater,

Thank you for your post.

NinjaTrader supports trading through many different brokerages though not all offer a similar feature to what you've outlined here. The only disadvantage I could think of with this type of order is that the order would need to be submitted/managed via TWS itself - if you're managing other trades through NinjaTrader, that could make things difficult to keep track of.

[AntiMatter]

Yes, this is a good point!

However, as an adjunct question - is there any way to modify an order type with Ninja Trader so that it has the "hidden" attribute with the broker?

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hi AntiMatter,

Unfortunately that option is not currently available but I will forward the suggestion on to our development staff for further consideration.

[AntiMatter]

As a final question (for all) - does anyone know anything *at all* about the visibility of non-hidden orders? E.g. on the NYSE and NADSAQ? Obviously, STP orders are not visible on the regular order book. So - do only Market Makers get to see these order types? Anyone else? Can any electronic participants see these order types on the "book"?