Away account spoofing is a market-manipulative practice where a trader, using one broker’s platform, places one or more visible orders in symbols with wide spreads, causing the best bid or offer (NBBO) to improve or increasing the apparent volume. This effect can be magnified when other market participants join in, entering similar trades. Meanwhile, the same trader, using another broker’s platform, takes advantage of the improved NBBO and liquidity by executing trades on the opposite side of the market.
Important Note: Away account spoofing is a prohibited trading activity. Typically, we will issue account alerts at the first occurrence; any subsequent occurrences could result in trading restrictions on the account.