Erroneous trade by broker/software error - possible?

[MattZ]

I have been talking to my broker, but the only answer I'm getting is that my trading software is inaccurate for such reports when holding overnight because of how dates are reported.

So, there is your issue. Now you know you need to change it.
If you want you can PM me and you can tell me which API you use, and I could put some thought to help you through that. I respect that you have not made your broker and API ands issue here. Reach out any time.

 

[HeSaidSheSaid]

I did fat finger a stock symbol once. it was in the dark. I didn't know about it after several days later, I discovered I'm holding a strange stock symbol. I wondered how the hell this stock got on my accnt. my initial reaction was my accnt was hacked, then I checked the keyboard layout and the letters around the key that I supposed to press, then I realized I pressed the wrong key... hahaha

 

[sprstpd]

Hi all,

Last week I had an overnight trade that I can't account for. I have no recollection of either entering or exiting it. Fortunately, it was a fairly profitable trade even, but in this environment, it could easily have ended up with a margin call.

Looking over my records - my only explanation is that my exit on a certain long trade have been exceeded by an additional contract making me net short 1 contract overnight, i.e., long 5 contracts -> exit 6 contracts.

Going over all my executions for said day as reported by my trading platform, the number of buys are matched by the number of sells and all trades have an equal entry/exit size. So, I should be flat by EOD before shutting down. My trading platform also clearly shows when I'm in a position and finally gives a warning before shutting down if I have open positions. No such thing happened. I'm also very careful each day to make sure I'm flat before closing down the shop. In fact, I flatten many times throughout the day to make sure there are no resting orders I've forgotten.

Opening my charts and execution window would also show if I had an open position on any given day.

My broker insists that I must have carried a position from some other day and that my platform isn't accurate with matching trades from different days/dates, hence why my platform is showing different data than my broker statement.

Personally, I believe this must be a software issue and that an actual error have happened here with no fault of my own.

Has anyone experienced or heard about something similar? Is an error like this even possible?

I have 1000s of trades under my belt and this is a first for me, but it frightened me a bit as it could easily have ended badly and I'm not sure if I could have done anything about it then.

Thanks in advance.

What if they come back later and say that the extra contract was in error and it is now busted? If it were me, I would be asking for complete trade logs for that day and trying to figure out what the hell happened. Because I've seen some weird stuff happen and it is not out of the realm of possibility that your initial reaction was the correct one. Just make sure to pin down what really happened so that you actually know for sure what is going on (and maybe you'll learn something to avoid in the future).

 

[Laissez Faire]

What if they come back later and say that the extra contract was in error and it is now busted?

I don't think that's going to happen.

But I will inquire one more time...

If it were me, I would be asking for complete trade logs for that day and trying to figure out what the hell happened.

I suppose I already have that, but the broker statements are a pain to read and only shows the # of buys/sells sorted in order by price. The orders are not timestamped. Just date. I spent quite a few hours on this already.

The bottom line is that my broker statements does not match my trade records in my trading software.

And since I have a very good control of all trades I place and virtually never trade overnight - this one stood out as an irregularity when I went over my statements this weekend.

Because I've seen some weird stuff happen and it is not out of the realm of possibility that your initial reaction was the correct one. Just make sure to pin down what really happened so that you actually know for sure what is going on (and maybe you'll learn something to avoid in the future).

Any details...?

 

[RRY16]

I don't think that's going to happen.

But I will inquire one more time...



I suppose I already have that, but the broker statements are a pain to read and only shows the # of buys/sells sorted in order by price. The orders are not timestamped. Just date. I spent quite a few hours on this already.

The bottom line is that my broker statements does not match my trade records in my trading software.

And since I have a very good control of all trades I place and virtually never trade overnight - this one stood out as an irregularity when I went over my statements this weekend.



Any details...?

It won’t happen because it’s a Sim Account.

 

[schizo]

Hi all,

Last week I had an overnight trade that I can't account for. I have no recollection of either entering or exiting it. Fortunately, it was a fairly profitable trade even, but in this environment, it could easily have ended up with a margin call.

Looking over my records - my only explanation is that my exit on a certain long trade have been exceeded by an additional contract making me net short 1 contract overnight, i.e., long 5 contracts -> exit 6 contracts.

Going over all my executions for said day as reported by my trading platform, the number of buys are matched by the number of sells and all trades have an equal entry/exit size. So, I should be flat by EOD before shutting down. My trading platform also clearly shows when I'm in a position and finally gives a warning before shutting down if I have open positions. No such thing happened. I'm also very careful each day to make sure I'm flat before closing down the shop. In fact, I flatten many times throughout the day to make sure there are no resting orders I've forgotten.

Opening my charts and execution window would also show if I had an open position on any given day.

My broker insists that I must have carried a position from some other day and that my platform isn't accurate with matching trades from different days/dates, hence why my platform is showing different data than my broker statement.

Personally, I believe this must be a software issue and that an actual error have happened here with no fault of my own.

Has anyone experienced or heard about something similar? Is an error like this even possible?

I have 1000s of trades under my belt and this is a first for me, but it frightened me a bit as it could easily have ended badly and I'm not sure if I could have done anything about it then.

Thanks in advance.

If it were any other "normal" time, you can just shrug it off as unimportant. But with crazy volatility even during AH, where futures can rise or fall by 5%, such a blunder would be completely unacceptable. My advice is to change your broker.

 

[sprstpd]

I don't think that's going to happen.

But I will inquire one more time...



I suppose I already have that, but the broker statements are a pain to read and only shows the # of buys/sells sorted in order by price. The orders are not timestamped. Just date. I spent quite a few hours on this already.

The bottom line is that my broker statements does not match my trade records in my trading software.

And since I have a very good control of all trades I place and virtually never trade overnight - this one stood out as an irregularity when I went over my statements this weekend.



Any details...?

They've got to have timestamps (both submission and execution) on your orders and there has to be a way for you to get those details (plus maybe what type of order it was). Then maybe you can figure out exactly when this phantom order was submitted and executed.

I've had busts get reported to me 3 days late so that was an eye-opening experience for me.