Level II position question

[stillkicking]

My understanding is, if you place a limit order to purchase a stock your order is filled first come first served.

Maybe it's just me but I do see other firms jumping in front of my order at my price over and over. Even orders placed 10 minutes or more ahead of the pack.

Any comments?

In case it matters... I am using ThinkorSwim on Ameritrade and have my routing set to BEST

 

[Trader333]

Unless things have changed, it used to be possible that some orders are hidden and as such you wouldn't see them on a level II setup. Can you give an actual example of what you are seeing ?

 

[stillkicking]

I understand not all trades show up on Level II. The dark pool side of trading.

However, what I see is not that. These are the exchanges we can all see. I have a buy order sitting at, say $5.25. I might be the only one at that price so I am first in line when the ask reaches that price. Then, bang. I see another $5.25 price get ahead of me and get taken out.

With TOS you can see your trade listed on Level II as a nine digit number followed by the letters TDA.