Individual bids and offers on the Instinet network will be shown in the Level 2 view with the market maker ID: INET and INETb (with 'Show ECN Book' checked on in the Level 2 View).
You can use the ISLD button to trade off of an Instinet price posted on the Level 2 view, or place a Bid (to buy) or an Offer (to sell) into the NASDAQ Level 2 Pane under the INET market maker ID.
Instinet currently accept orders from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM (ET).
Instinet orders must be entered as LMT and PART. Even though AON is an option in the Order Entry window, AON orders sent to Instinet will be treated as PART orders and will be subject to partial fills by Instinet.
You may sometimes see two Instinet symbols for a stock, one with the symbol INET and the other with the symbol INETb. In these instances, trade on the INETb price. If you decide to trade on an INET price, you must preference INET via SelectNet.
If an order sent to Instinet has been filled partially, Ultimate Trader will automatically send out another bid/offer for the remaining balance (the unfilled portion) of the order. Multiple executions done in this manner will be treated as one trade. A good way to verify whether or not multiple filled executions will be treated as one trade (and one commission) or multiple trades (and multiple commissions) is to compare the executions' Order ID Numbers. If they are identical, the executions will be treated as one commission. If the Order ID Numbers are not identical, the trades will be treated as multiple trades and multiple commissions will then apply.
A good way to verify whether or not multiple filled executions will be treated as one trade (and one commission) or multiple trades ( and multiple commissions) is to compare the executions' Order ID Numbers.
If a new order is entered manually (different Order ID Numbers) to complete the remaining balance of a partial fill, the new order will be treated as a separate trade with respect to trade commissions.
Instinet proactively prevents the creation of locked or crossed markets automatically. When Instinet receives an order that will lock or cross the NASDAQ market, Instinet’s quote updating system will compute the optimal display price to send to NASDAQ, which will represent the order to the fullest extent possible within the limitations of NASDAQ’s systems and rules. In all situations, however, Instinet subscribers and non-subscribers will only receive an execution at the order entry price.
Example:
The inside quote for MSFT is 73 ¾ bid to 74 offer.
A displayable order to buy MSFT at 74 1/4 is entered into Instinet.
Instinet updates the INET quote on NASDAQ to 73 15/16th bid, reflecting the Instinet 74 ¼ buy order to the greatest extent possible on
NASDAQ without locking (1/16th point below the current inside offer in this case).
The NASDAQ inside offer changes to 74 1/8, the INET bid immediately updates to 74 1/16.
Instinet receives an order through SelectNet to sell at 74 1/16, the two orders are matched at 74 1/4.
Note that in the above example, Instinet will "track" any and all NASDAQ inside quote changes so that at every moment the INET quote will represent the order on NASDAQ to the fullest extent possible. In addition, the SelectNet order is executed at the actual price thus giving the non-subscriber the benefit of price improvement opportunities on Instinet.