Welcome to the Decimal Trap, Where Retail Gets Outbid Every. Single. Time.

At a Glance

You placed a buy order at ₹200. So did 94 other retail bros. Then some bot placed an order at ₹200.05 — and got the trade. You? You’re left wondering why your order never hit. Welcome to the Decimal Trap, where algorithms and smart traders jump the queue by throwing spare change at the system — and walk away with your lunch.

🎮 The Setup: One Paisa to Rule Them All

Imagine this:

• You place a limit buy order for Reliance at ₹2,500.00.
• Volume: 1,000 shares. You’re feeling good.
• You’re on the top of the order book. Right?

Wrong.

At 9:16 AM, someone places an order for ₹2,500.05.
Your order just got demoted.

👊 That one paise? That’s not stupidity. That’s precision warfare.

🧠 How The Decimal Trap Works

Stock exchanges use a price-time priority system:

1. Best price wins
2. If price is same → whoever came first wins

But… what if I just beat your price by 5 paise?
Boom. I go first. Even if I came 3 minutes late.

That’s called stepping ahead. And algos do it all day.

🤖 Why Algos LOVE This Loophole

• It’s legal front-running – without inside info
• Works best in low-spread, high-volume stocks (TCS, HDFC, Infy)
• Allows priority access to big blocks without alerting the market
• Avoids slippage while nudging price up fractionally

These bots are programmed to monitor:

• Best bid/ask
• Depth of order book
• Timing of entry
• And beat it — by a penny.

🔬 Real Example: TCS on Any Given Tuesday

Result:

• Retail order sits idle
• Bot got partial execution
• Price nudges up slowly over time

Retail gets FOMO. Buys at market price later.
Cycle repeats. Money prints.

💼 Decimal Laddering: The Advanced Form

Bots place multiple buy orders:

• ₹200.05
• ₹200.10
• ₹200.15
• ₹200.20

Each order small. Each one ahead of you.
If price starts falling, they cancel and reshuffle like it’s a game of musical chairs.

🧯 Can You Avoid the Trap?

Sort of. Here’s how:

✅ Use Odd Decimal Bids

• Instead of ₹200, try ₹200.07
• Your order may skip ahead of other flat ₹200 limit orders

✅ Watch Depth Before You Place Order

• NSE “Market Depth” tab → Check best 5 bids
• Don’t be the 4th guy at ₹210.00 when you can be 1st at ₹210.05

✅ Use AMO (After Market Orders) Wisely

• Pre-market placing allows you to jump early
• Especially for IPO listings, news-driven trades

✅ Don’t Place Lazy Round Numbers

• ₹100, ₹150, ₹200 – everyone places these
• Use ₹101.11, ₹199.75 instead

🔍 Brokers Know It – But Don’t Tell You

Zerodha, Upstox, Angel – they all show depth.
But 90% of retailers still use app interface with “market” and “limit” as default.

You’re not just competing with people — you’re fighting bots trained on microsecond execution and tick-level data.

⚔️ The Catch? You Still May Lose

Even if you use decimal bids:

• You’ll get front-run by co-location servers
• Your internet latency is 40–100 ms
• Bots = 1–2 ms

It’s like running a 100m sprint on a broken treadmill while the bot is on a Ducati.

🧑‍⚖️ EduInvesting Verdict™

The Decimal Trap is the cheapest way to lose money without realizing you ever lost.

💸 Done right:

• You get priority execution
• Save 10–15 ticks on both entry/exit
• Outsmart bots at their own decimal game (sometimes)

😵‍💫 Done wrong:

• You sit on unfilled orders
• Watch price run away
• Enter late, exit worse

So next time you’re placing an order at ₹200 flat, remember:
That one paise could’ve changed everything.

✍️ Written by Prashant | 📅 July 8, 2025
Tags: decimal bidding, NSE order book, stock market tricks, retail trading tips, algo front-running, high-frequency trading India, EduInvesting, price-time priority loophole