TD Ameritrade Held Me Hostage In a Bad Trade- Where to go now?

[wrbtrader]

So, as a day trader, I sometimes get into a trade that I need to get out of right away because price moves opposite of what I am anticipating.

Monday I went long and the order never seemed to execute. My order just popped around on the screen. I was never given confirmation of a price and Active Trader did not show a running P/L as it should have. But my activity log said that I had one working order. What?? But I could find it nowhere to cancel out, for if my long order had gone through, then I was actively losing money.

I went everywhere on the screen to cancel and/or flatten my order, to no avail. Because I did not have confirmation, I could not flatten anything.

I logged off and logged back on. Nothing. The buy order was still just popping around on active trader as if it was looking for an execution.

Eventually, I was able to sell. But I was $400.00 down. I called TD Ameritrade and told them what happened. They said that the Market Maker was "slow to send the confirmation" back to them. WTF??? A good ten minutes slow??!!

They would not reimburse my money that was held hostage to their issue. They told me that I should have called while the order was still open, and then they could "probably" have reversed it. "Probably"?? I am supposed to sit there and watch my account go down even further into the thousands and hope that they will "probably" give me the lost money back?? It took over a HALF HOUR for them to answer my phone call!

Needless to say, I am stressed out over this. Now I am afraid to get in near the bell, where I make a majority of my money.

Where should I go?? IBKR? Lightspeed?? I hate the idea of moving and having to learn an entirely different program. But....but I can't trade with the fear hanging over me.

PLEASE HELP!

-LB

Why didn't you call them during the time when this was occurring ?

Your broker should be on speed dial in your regular telephone and cell phone. Also, have a screen recorder just in case you again have a problematic trade...with a click of the button...you can start recording your screen while you're calling your broker.

Just chalk it up as a $400 lesson.

Simply, it doesn't matter whom you switch to or if you stay where you're at...broker on speed dial plus a screen recorder can be helpful...not hurtful.

wrbtrader

 

[zdreg]

If the news of these tech issues spreads, AMTD stock may take a hit...

Tech issue doesn't affect its price. Co. is being taken over for stock, Price moves with the price of their future partner.

 

[smallfil]

I use the same broker TD Ameritrade and their ThinkorSwim application. In most instances, I get my fills. Of course, I do not wait till the last few minutes to put in my orders. If you screw up, very little time to correct it. If in doubt, call their toll free number. Personally, I would have told them to cancel the order if not filled. If filled and going against me, I would close it out by telling them to sell it at the bid. If you waited instead, of calling them, you have yourself to blame. Inaction in the stockmarket has disastrous effects. If I have orders pending and not getting filled, I would cancel it thru the application and if failing that, call the customer service help desk and have them cancel the order. I never sit around waiting for a bad thing to happen. Remember your monies are at risk.

 

[lbhere]

What type of order and market were you trying to trade?

I was jumping in on a market order. Should have filled quickly. And, indeed, it did. It filled. But I didn't know; I didn't know what price, and, worst of all, I COULD NOT GET OUT because there was nothing to reverse in my account for 10 - 15 min. Ugh.

 

[lbhere]

I use the same broker TD Ameritrade and their ThinkorSwim application. In most instances, I get my fills. Of course, I do not wait till the last few minutes to put in my orders. If you screw up, very little time to correct it. If in doubt, call their toll free number. Personally, I would have told them to cancel the order if not filled. If filled and going against me, I would close it out by telling them to sell it at the bid. If you waited instead, of calling them, you have yourself to blame. Inaction in the stockmarket has disastrous effects. If I have orders pending and not getting filled, I would cancel it thru the application and if failing that, call the customer service help desk and have them cancel the order. I never sit around waiting for a bad thing to happen. Remember your monies are at risk.

LOL. I don't think you really get what happened. I DID get the fill, but they did not post it to my account for about 10 - 15 minutes. So I was unable to do anything with the filled order. It then went against me. And I DID call. It took over a half hour for them to answer my call. I was on hold when I was finally able to see the filled order and sell at a loss.

 

[lbhere]

IBKR Pro (what I use) or Lightspeed seem like two good alternatives compared to the mess you find yourself in. With IB at least, they are reasonably transparent. I can't imagine a conversation like this except if I am using IBKR lite.

Yes, looking into both now. Thank you.

 

[KCalhoun]

were you trading some risky low-float thinly traded under $10 crap stock???

personally I like stocks $15-$50 share w/minimum 15k shares/minute volume (like PENN today)

day trading stocks under $10 is a terrible idea imho (bad fills, halts, pop n drop)

and I've never had a phone wait of over 5-10 mins w TD; usually its near instant

 

[lbhere]

Why didn't you call them during the time when this was occurring ?

Your broker should be on speed dial in your regular telephone and cell phone. Also, have a screen recorder just in case you again have a problematic trade...with a click of the button...you can start recording your screen while you're calling your broker.

Just chalk it up as a $400 lesson.

Simply, it doesn't matter whom you switch to or if you stay where you're at...broker on speed dial plus a screen recorder can be helpful...not hurtful.

wrbtrader

Yes. Lesson learned. I did call them while this was occuring. I was on hold waiting for them to answer for at least 25 min. While I was on hold I was still trying to close out. The order finally appeared 10-15 minutes later, while I was on hold, and I sold out.

Then about 25 min. into being on hold with them (now 10 min. after being able to sell out, but still upset about the loss), they looked it up, and said the market maker was slow in sending the confirmation back to them.

 

[lbhere]

Yes, polite. I edited one comment. Thank you.

 

[nooby_mcnoob]

Then about 25 min. into being on hold with them (now 10 min. after being able to sell out, but still upset about the loss), they looked it up, and said the market maker was slow in sending the confirmation back to them.

This looks a lot like the games market makers will be playing to get an "edge". Do this enough times over the day and ... you've got a nice profit.