Ameritrade(Datek) Direct
- Thread starter zxcv1fu
- Start date
I was long a couple hundred SPY for a few weeks. I was using a GTC order. I woke up one morning and discovered that I'd been sold out, even though SPY never went near my stop (which was above my purchase price) and I was still holding a profitable position. I contacted Datek and they agreed that they'd made a mistake. They promptly (a day or two later) put the shares back in my account - AFTER SPY HAD GONE BELOW MY PURCHASE PRICE!
AMEN to that.
I was with Ameritrade. If you are a swing trader (several days/weeks) then I suppose they are ok, at least better than Schwab.
But if you trade interday (IMO), the crappy fills and commissions will just kill you. Not only the time it takes to fill once the order is placed, but the delay in just trudging through their website to place the order.
I use IB, and the speed which you can place the order, and the quicker/better fill, and lower commissions are a night and day difference.
I dont know if IB is the best, but you need something in that league if you trade interday (IMO)
But if you trade interday (IMO), the crappy fills and commissions will just kill you. Not only the time it takes to fill once the order is placed, but the delay in just trudging through their website to place the order.
I use IB, and the speed which you can place the order, and the quicker/better fill, and lower commissions are a night and day difference.
I dont know if IB is the best, but you need something in that league if you trade interday (IMO)
I couldn't agree with you more Lightningsmurf...Datek
is great for swing trading but your in for one hell of a ride
if you attempt to day trade there customer service is atrocious.
Another interesting piece of information for all you who believe
Ameritrade is charging you $10.99 unlimited shares you have the wool pulled over your eyes.
I used to trade QQQ's quite actively using Islands book (prior to Amex's moaning and the SEC pulling the plug on the qqq book) I would place a limit order of 5000shares @ 25.00 and I would look at the island book to find my order. At first I couldn'l locate it because my share size was broken down to 2000s and 3000s block but I still couldn't locate my limit price. They had 2000s and 3000s on the bid for 25.004 but not $25.00. So I cancelled my order and the 2000s and 3000s block of shares disappeared from the book. I realized that the two previous blocks of share were mine. Datek had marked up my 25.00 limit to 25.004. I would get a fill at 25.00 but really I got filled at 25.004. You may think 4/10 of a penny is not much but if you add up $20 a tickedt at 10 trades a day it become quite an expense.
I started putting orders in tenths of a penny ie., 25.001 but Datek would still market it up by 4/10ths ie., 25.005.
You get nothing free in this world. The funny thing is Island provides liquidly rebates. I understand island charging a fee for taking out liquidity but even when I add liquidly datek still shaves off 4/10ths with no rebates.
is great for swing trading but your in for one hell of a ride
if you attempt to day trade there customer service is atrocious.
Another interesting piece of information for all you who believe
Ameritrade is charging you $10.99 unlimited shares you have the wool pulled over your eyes.
I used to trade QQQ's quite actively using Islands book (prior to Amex's moaning and the SEC pulling the plug on the qqq book) I would place a limit order of 5000shares @ 25.00 and I would look at the island book to find my order. At first I couldn'l locate it because my share size was broken down to 2000s and 3000s block but I still couldn't locate my limit price. They had 2000s and 3000s on the bid for 25.004 but not $25.00. So I cancelled my order and the 2000s and 3000s block of shares disappeared from the book. I realized that the two previous blocks of share were mine. Datek had marked up my 25.00 limit to 25.004. I would get a fill at 25.00 but really I got filled at 25.004. You may think 4/10 of a penny is not much but if you add up $20 a tickedt at 10 trades a day it become quite an expense.
I started putting orders in tenths of a penny ie., 25.001 but Datek would still market it up by 4/10ths ie., 25.005.
You get nothing free in this world. The funny thing is Island provides liquidly rebates. I understand island charging a fee for taking out liquidity but even when I add liquidly datek still shaves off 4/10ths with no rebates.
I had similar experience (almost exact same) dealing with Datek, as several people who posted on this thread. Now I know that my experience was not isolated, individual incidents.
Let them clean up their act, and convince people that they are a decent broker. You don't need to keep throwing money at them.
Let them clean up their act, and convince people that they are a decent broker. You don't need to keep throwing money at them.
automated system program ( they exist )
that would teeny bid better than your order
on Island ECN
when you would cancel your order , the automated
system program would cancel their order
my opinion only ... based on experience
entering and canceling orders on island
using my direct access broker
that would teeny bid better than your order
on Island ECN
when you would cancel your order , the automated
system program would cancel their order
my opinion only ... based on experience
entering and canceling orders on island
using my direct access broker
I mostly use Datek to use Streamer - I sometimes trade options, and it's useful to see the bid/ask trend of the underlying. I use IB preferentially, but if it looks like IB is routing to PHLX, I switch to Datek for that trade, because their software doesn't seem to get hung up if you try to cancel or replace before 2 minutes. IB's charge for cancelling a directly-routed option order means it's very costly to chase a fast-moving offer (like during MRK's rally one day last week).
Not much to add to the Datek comments people have already made, except that if you don't get the answer you want from the help staff, just ask again and it'll probably work.
For instance, I qualified for their frequent-trader program, which consists of free news and level II quotes. The first time I asked how to get my status upgraded, I got a boilerplate description of the program. The second time I asked, I was told they periodically check for eligibillity and the next time would be at the end of the quarter. I ignored that answer and asked someone else, and got upgraded immediately.
They do seem to be rather defensive about their software, though. Even when I give fairly specific bug reports about certain quotes being wrong under certain reproducible conditions, I'm always told all systems are working fine and I should clear my browser's cache.
What they need, other than the ability to contact more clueful help staff, is an actual trading platform and direct access for options.
At least they don't slow down the web pages with third-party banner ads like a certain other b*roker.
Not much to add to the Datek comments people have already made, except that if you don't get the answer you want from the help staff, just ask again and it'll probably work.
For instance, I qualified for their frequent-trader program, which consists of free news and level II quotes. The first time I asked how to get my status upgraded, I got a boilerplate description of the program. The second time I asked, I was told they periodically check for eligibillity and the next time would be at the end of the quarter. I ignored that answer and asked someone else, and got upgraded immediately.
They do seem to be rather defensive about their software, though. Even when I give fairly specific bug reports about certain quotes being wrong under certain reproducible conditions, I'm always told all systems are working fine and I should clear my browser's cache.
What they need, other than the ability to contact more clueful help staff, is an actual trading platform and direct access for options.
At least they don't slow down the web pages with third-party banner ads like a certain other b*roker.