I've asked this before...Never got a full answer. It was with Fidelity on a "sell to open". The option was JO...Thinly traded coffee ETF. In two sentences, could you explain what happened...
Agent- they send your order out as your agent for execution. The alternative is principle. That means you traded with your broker as the counterparty.
Yeah, you're right...I'm 65 so I may need some slack. BKR88's link spells it out... MMs come into play a lot. Who and when they send out the orders to other MMs effects the trade too. That can be a whole another thread or book. Schwab and Fidelity will still not tell me how quickly my order spreads to other MMs...Vague
This just simply implies that you made some trades with your broker as a counter party and nothing more.
This happens when you trade with your broker as the other party. Don’t worry this is not something you should be concerned with.
Principal trading occurs when a brokerage buys securities in the secondary market, holds these securities for a period of time, and then sells them. On the other hand, agency trading requires a brokerage to find a counterparty to the customer’s trade and can include customers at other brokerages.
If you’re acting as a counter party with your broker, this tends to happen. So don’t worry it is not that big a deal. It does sound alarming at first though.