That may be the case Peter, but consider this: Often there have been large bid blocks sitting at an even penny. If you watch the time & sales, it's common for the price to fall until it hits that large bid block and bounce off it, with little or no sales occuring right at the large block price. Let's just use the number 0.76 as an example.

 

The price falls until it hits 0.76 and bounces off it. If I place a bid @ 0.7601 there is a good chance it will fill, but if I place a bid @ 0.7600 odds are it won't. So while I can buy @ 0.7601, your scenario would have you placing a bid @ 0.77 - that's a difference of 1.3% in where our orders would fill. In cash terms, the difference is $9.90 for each 1000 shares.

 

Now look at a stock like PEIX which is trading in the 33 cent range right now (another stock in listing trouble). The difference in a bid @ 0.3301 and 0.34 is a shade under 3%. Now let's put that in perspective in a scenario I saw very recently with PEIX. There is a large buy bid @ 0.33 and a very large sell bid @ 0.35. The price falls to 0.33 and bounces off it. Then it rises to 0.35 and then drops. I buy 10,000 PEIX @ 0.3301 and sell @ 0.3499. I have access to almost 6% price difference, but because you can't trade in sub-pennies, you don't have that same access. I have an opportunity to make @ $198.00 gross profit on a trade of that size that you don't have access to.