Please Help - Etrade cost me $2,500 today

T

tradermike88

Hi,

I bought 500 shares of IBM about 5 minutes before the close at $99.45. I then placed an order using their "auto" ecn to sell these 500 shares at $99.65. I was trying to make a play on the volatility from the earnings release afterhours. A few minutes after the market closed I cancelled the order to sell the 500 shares at $99.65 because I wanted to make sure that INET was used as the ECN. I then tried submitting my INET sell order several times and it got rejected saying I did not own the shares to sell. I looked at my original order and it was frozen as pending to cancel. I tried to cancel it repeatedly and during that time the earnings came out. I tried cancelling it and repeatedly submitting sell orders, but it was frozen for about 10 minutes at this point. I then got called etrade in a panic and evenutally got throught to their trade desk. Finally, after being put on hold for 10 minutes the trade desk rep came on and said he had killed the original order so that I could now sell my shares. I said "are you kidding". My order has been frozen for 20 minutes & this cost me $2,500. He agreed that it was their fault that the order froze and I could not sell my shares for 20 minutes and said he would file a trade dispute. Has anyone had similar experiences? I am really upset about this situation and don't know how to proceed. They said they will get back to me in 24 hours. I am wondering what happens in these circumstances usually. Is it possible that the market maker who was given the order to sell my shares held off on cancelling it so they could fill it if the price shot up and leave me hung out to dry if it crashes?

Thanks,
Mike
 
when you signed your end user license agreement it stated that any issues would be absorbed by you......sorry to say...ut you need a real broker
 
ETrade has the most abysmal trading software/network in the business.
I still have an account there, but only use it to buy funds and long term positions (stuff that I don't want cluttering up my main trading screens). I cringe when I enter orders on their platform because I never know what is going to go wrong.

My advice...if you are actively trading, run away from ETurd as fast as possible.

Sorry about your loss. I highly doubt ETurd will do anything to make you whole.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss. Suck it up and move on. Unfortunately in the world of trading, the best lessons come from losses (if you are willing to learn from them).

Etrade and many other firms route their orders to market makers. Google "payment for order flow" and "Direct Access Trading Platforms" for more info.

There are a ton of stories about how folks who are trying to daytrade or pull of a fast trade through these firms get screwed. Most folks don't know what happens after they click the buy or sell button. They think they are getting the best price and fastest execution. But more often than not the stock moves away and their order is yet to be filled or gets filled at a lousy price.

So if you are a swing trader, stay with Etrade as one can argue they are a good firm. If you are trying to scalp or pull off fast trades, then find a direct access broker (one that does not send your order to others to trade against or provides rebates for the orders being routed to them).

MM
 
Quote from tradermike88:

Hi,

I bought 500 shares of IBM about 5 minutes before the close at $99.45. I then placed an order using their "auto" ecn to sell these 500 shares at $99.65....
Thanks,
Mike
More...

etrade is just not build for fast market, try to avoid trading during the news, you may as well check out our broker section for the one campatible with your trading style.
 
I have been with Etrade for more than 7 years. What I want to say: Etrade is the worst broker I have met. They have "good" customer service, but they are just liers. They could fill your buy order at top and fill your sell order at bottom. Sure they can file trade dispute for you, but 99% you will get nothing. I still have account with them but not actively trade there. How can I actively trade there? Well, the funny thing is I even could not get real time stock & option quote since the start of 2007. I called them and I was told I traded a little bit less than 30 trades during last quater(around 27 like that). What a joke! Every broker provides real time data, why don't they? I have no money in my AMTD account for about 6 years, I still use AMTD data service. After I shouted to Etrade customer service several times "bullshit", they gave me real time. How cheap they are!
 
Quote from angryangry:

So whats the best direct access broker around atm please dont say Interactive Brokers.:p
More...

Yes, Interactive Brokers.:D It is pretty good on speed and execution. However you may overtrade there.

So if you use Etrade, you might get a better performance than using Interactive Brokers. LOL:p :p :p
 
Thanks for the well wishes. I am really upset and don't understand what happened to my sell order. I tried to cancel my 99.65 sell order several minutes before the earnings were released. It was stuck in a pending cancellation mode for over 20 minutes until someone at etrade finally killed the order. During this time IBM traded over $100. Therefore, how is it possible that the order was not filled. I feel like if it had kept going up I would have seen a fill come through and been told through. Basically the Market maker had free reign with my order. If he wanted my shares he could buy them for 20 minutes at $99.65 and if he didn't he could just leave them sitting and not allow me to cancel. How is this possible? What is Etrades role in this? Are they just the broker that sends the order or are they benefiting off of this situation that I described.

Mike
 
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