Buyer Beware: Tradestation will flag you as a professional if you don't use gmail, yahoo, etc

[gaussian]

I don't normally like to talk negatively about brokers. I have had a generally good experience with even brokers that were really raking me over the coals on commissions.

Today I was flagged as a professional because I do not use gmail, yahoo, or other public email address. I use a personal email domain that I control because I am very privacy conscious. For those out of the loop being marked a professional means they will charge me expensive data rates among other things.

I called Tradestation to explain my situation and the nice tech support person told me there is nothing they can do and my only option is to open a new email account with a public email service. I tried to explain I can't, and they wouldn't work with me.

So if you use Tradestation and don't use a public email service find a different broker. Tradestation uses email domain as a method to determine who is a professional rather than actual professional credentials.

 

[wrbtrader]

I don't normally like to talk negatively about brokers. I have had a generally good experience with even brokers that were really raking me over the coals on commissions.

Today I was flagged as a professional because I do not use gmail, yahoo, or other public email address. I use a personal email domain that I control because I am very privacy conscious. For those out of the loop being marked a professional means they will charge me expensive data rates among other things.

I called Tradestation to explain my situation and the nice tech support person told me there is nothing they can do and my only option is to open a new email account with a public email service. I tried to explain I can't, and they wouldn't work with me.

So if you use Tradestation and don't use a public email service find a different broker. Tradestation uses email domain as a method to determine who is a professional rather than actual professional credentials.

I have friends using a "personal email domain" (associated with their business) with accounts at TradeStation and they register with TradeStation via their personal email domain (business email address).

Just open an account with them via whatever email address they allow for and then change the email address at a later date (after the account is open) to your personal domain unless your personal domain is that of a professional trading website or financial firm.

The friends I mention above are in the floral business, massage therapy business and sports camp.

wrbtrader

 

[gaussian]

I have friends using a "personal email domain" with accounts at TradeStation.

Just open an account with them via whatever email address they allow for and then change the email address at a later date (after the account is open) to your personal domain unless your personal domain is that of a professional trading website or financial firm.

wrbtrader

Yeah that was the problem. I had opened the account in that way, and the email I use now is flagged. It was probably manually flagged. The domain I use is a shorthand domain, and the shorthand could be construed as something financial if you're unaware of anything in computer science and math.

Still, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[wrbtrader]

Yeah that was the problem. I had opened the account in that way, and the email I use now is flagged. It was probably manually flagged. The domain I use is a shorthand domain, and the shorthand could be construed as something financial if you're unaware of anything in computer science and math.

Still, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Talk to a sales rep and tell them to click on your website link so that they know it has nothing to do with financial.

If its manually flagged, someone may have gone to the wrong link and then thought in error that its linked to a financial site.

P.S. My kids private schools do not allow parents to use personal email domains as contact info. We have to use gmail, yahoo or whatever that's not linked to a business website like mike@customautopainting.com

wrbtrader

 

[gaussian]

Talk to a sales rep and tell them to click on your website link so that they know it has nothing to do with financial.

If its manually flagged, someone may have gone to the wrong link and then thought in error that its linked to a financial site.

wrbtrader

Yeah that would be a good idea for anyone actually using their domain as a web domain. I exclusively use the domain for email. I suppose I could set up a page or something with big bold text that says THIS IS NOT USED FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES. If that's not clear enough I don't know what is.

 

[Robert Morse]

I have not heard of that issue. It is not an issue with us. It might be from an NYSE audit of accounts. I have heard that the NYSE spot checks individual accounts on LinkedIn. If you say you are a professional trader or money manager on LinkedIn, the exchange will charge you higher rates. Has not happened to us yet but I heard this from another firm.

 

[JSOP]

I don't normally like to talk negatively about brokers. I have had a generally good experience with even brokers that were really raking me over the coals on commissions.

Today I was flagged as a professional because I do not use gmail, yahoo, or other public email address. I use a personal email domain that I control because I am very privacy conscious. For those out of the loop being marked a professional means they will charge me expensive data rates among other things.

I called Tradestation to explain my situation and the nice tech support person told me there is nothing they can do and my only option is to open a new email account with a public email service. I tried to explain I can't, and they wouldn't work with me.

So if you use Tradestation and don't use a public email service find a different broker. Tradestation uses email domain as a method to determine who is a professional rather than actual professional credentials.

That is absolutely ridiculous!! The determination of whether a trader is a "professional" or "non-professional" for data usage purposes for the exchanges is NOT based on an email domain. It is based on a whole set of criteria set by the exchanges that publish the data and it is NOT up to a broker like TradeStation to decide. Each exchange has its own criteria with a list of questions that you have to answer and it mainly has to do with whether the trader works in the financial industry or not. What TradeStation is doing is WRONG. I hope they are not using this scheme just to charge you higher fees and keep the extra for themselves and still remitting the fees as a "non-professional" to the exchanges. Unless you truly work for the financial industry either for others or for yourself, you should not be designated as a "professional" in terms of data usage even if you have your own company. You should talk to TradeStation about this and if they are still insisting on designating you as "professional" to charge you the higher fees, you should change broker.

 

[Robert Morse]

Unless you truly work for the financial industry, you should not be designated as a "professional" in terms of data usage even if you have your own company.

For equity markets, to get the non-pro exemption, you have to be a natural person that is not a registered person with any regulatory agency or managing the funds for others, or using others funds to trade. Every entity or trust is pro-market data.

Not my definition. I think the SEC should step in but they won't.

 

[gaussian]

That is absolutely ridiculous!! The determination of whether a trader is a "professional" or "non-professional" for data usage purposes for the exchanges is NOT based on an email domain. It is based on a whole set of criteria set by the exchanges that publish the data and it is NOT up to a broker like TradeStation to decide. Each exchange has its own criteria with a list of questions that you have to answer and it mainly has to do with whether the trader works in the financial industry or not. What TradeStation is doing is WRONG. I hope they are not using this scheme just to charge you higher fees and keep the extra for themselves and still remitting the fees as a "non-professional" to the exchanges. Unless you truly work for the financial industry either for others or for yourself, you should not be designated as a "professional" in terms of data usage even if you have your own company. You should talk to TradeStation about this and if they are still insisting on designating you as "professional" to charge you the higher fees, you should change broker.

Yeah, I told the tech support person I had read the documents and no where did I see anything saying a public email domain must be used. I don't recall the entire conversation but he seemed to agree with me when I said that it must be just something Tradestation does.

A cursory linkedin view of me would indicate I am certainly not a financial professional. There is no evidence of me working for any financial institution at any point in the past. My registered employer that I put with my account would be another point they could call and confirm I am not a financial professional.

I wouldn't say this is a conspiracy to extract more money from clients. I would say this is a complete miscarriage of the non-pro contract agreement. I hope that some Tradestation rep stumbles by this thread and answers some questions. It seems very strange to me.

 

[JSOP]

Yeah, I told the tech support person I had read the documents and no where did I see anything saying a public email domain must be used. I don't recall the entire conversation but he seemed to agree with me when I said that it must be just something Tradestation does.

A cursory linkedin view of me would indicate I am certainly not a financial professional. There is no evidence of me working for any financial institution at any point in the past. My registered employer that I put with my account would be another point they could call and confirm I am not a financial professional.

I wouldn't say this is a conspiracy to extract more money from clients. I would say this is a complete miscarriage of the non-pro contract agreement. I hope that some Tradestation rep stumbles by this thread and answers some questions. It seems very strange to me.

Talk to a TradeStation manager. Tell them if this is not resolved for you, you will change broker AND at the same time complain to SEC and all the investor protection regulatory bodies.