Sep 8th 2015, 12:56:47
I don't get how you can 'trick' anyone. What you're describing is just a low bid-ask spread because the seller is both the buyer and put quotes for selling slightly under their high selling price.
Buyers, either manually typed or using an S.O., don't buy at a price higher than the one they see on the screen. Sellers don't sell lower than price set.
In your example, lets say there are 10 SO to buy 1 unit oil at $208. and I am selling to you at $208 for 1000 units, then 8 units of my oil will be sold and then the other 992 will be waiting until someone buys it.
Just because the price is high and the spread is low between the bid and the ask, that doesn't "force" people to buy though. They buy when they have a demand for it and the price is right. If the price is not right, market theory will suggest they put in their own S.O. to buy much lower at a price they like.
People don't just magically buy because these two conditions are met: [i] Artificially high price and [ii] small bid-ask spread.