Scottrade has lousy system reliability, with their website or active trader platforms down or unable to accept trade orders, or unable to execute submitted orders lately, more than 20 minutes a day on average. On occassion they've been down for much of the trading day. Even reaching a broker during those times has taken from 10 minutes to over 1/2 an hour. This has occured often, even during slow market days, and it has been very costly.
Even worse is their lousy order confirmation/notification/execution system. Often times when I have submitted either market and limit orders on their Elite Trader platform the orders just disappear into the "void". After pressing the "buy", "buy to cover", "sell", "sell short", "modify", or "cancel" buttons on the order entry screen, there is no response confirming order status - submission, or completion - nothing. I can reload my order entry, activity, balances, positions, executions and open orders screen all I want and still get no confirmation information. On several occassions I have had absolutely NO feedback on the status of my order for minutes or hours.
On one occassion after I had no confirmation of my order for over half and hour, I submitted my order a second time. Again, nothing showed up on my trading log so I called the office and they reported that I had not bought any stock, had no open orders, and there were no problems with their system. With their assurances that all was well, and thinking I had screwed up somehow, I resubmitted the order a third time, and again received no acknowledgement. After the third try I gave up. It wasn't until after the market had closed that my trade confirmations came in. All three of them. Completed.
On another occassion I tried to cover a large short position I had opened half an hour or so before, but couldn't get the order through because according to Scottrade I wasn't short the shares. I called the office, explained that my records showed I was short the shares, that their system said I wasn't, and therefore it wouldn't allow me to close the position. They said that I wasn't short the shares, and that I couldn't buy to close a position I didn't have. When I insisted I was short, but couldn't close the position - they suggested that even though I wasn't really short the shares, if it made me feel better I could certainly buy the shares long and see how things work out later. But of course, they couldn't be responsible should I go long the shares. They had the nerve to tell me I should "just be patient".
Scottrade has told me I am responsible for the risk when I trade electronically. That there are flaws in the system. Their system may not be reliable, may not be accessible, my real time order, trading and transaction records may not be accurate. Even if their system inaccurately reports my positions and prevents me from trading that position because of their error I am responsible for any losses I may incur. I have lost many thousands of dollars on just a few trades from their screwups.
Well, this isn't just a bitch session, but I've paid over $5000 in commissions so far this year, and I've given up more than that on their screw-ups. In an account my size (small six figures) that hurts.
So, what are my chances of any sort of recovery on their screw-ups? They offered me 3 free trades, lol
. Any help would be appreciated.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, what can I reasonably expect from a broker? I concur that I'm a complete idiot for staying with Scottrade so long, but I am moving to a different broker. To prevent this craziness from ever happening again, I need some guidelines on what I can reasonably expect from a broker, and I need some recommendations on what brokers fill that bill. Any and all advice is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bruised but not beaten
Even worse is their lousy order confirmation/notification/execution system. Often times when I have submitted either market and limit orders on their Elite Trader platform the orders just disappear into the "void". After pressing the "buy", "buy to cover", "sell", "sell short", "modify", or "cancel" buttons on the order entry screen, there is no response confirming order status - submission, or completion - nothing. I can reload my order entry, activity, balances, positions, executions and open orders screen all I want and still get no confirmation information. On several occassions I have had absolutely NO feedback on the status of my order for minutes or hours.
On one occassion after I had no confirmation of my order for over half and hour, I submitted my order a second time. Again, nothing showed up on my trading log so I called the office and they reported that I had not bought any stock, had no open orders, and there were no problems with their system. With their assurances that all was well, and thinking I had screwed up somehow, I resubmitted the order a third time, and again received no acknowledgement. After the third try I gave up. It wasn't until after the market had closed that my trade confirmations came in. All three of them. Completed.
On another occassion I tried to cover a large short position I had opened half an hour or so before, but couldn't get the order through because according to Scottrade I wasn't short the shares. I called the office, explained that my records showed I was short the shares, that their system said I wasn't, and therefore it wouldn't allow me to close the position. They said that I wasn't short the shares, and that I couldn't buy to close a position I didn't have. When I insisted I was short, but couldn't close the position - they suggested that even though I wasn't really short the shares, if it made me feel better I could certainly buy the shares long and see how things work out later. But of course, they couldn't be responsible should I go long the shares. They had the nerve to tell me I should "just be patient".
Scottrade has told me I am responsible for the risk when I trade electronically. That there are flaws in the system. Their system may not be reliable, may not be accessible, my real time order, trading and transaction records may not be accurate. Even if their system inaccurately reports my positions and prevents me from trading that position because of their error I am responsible for any losses I may incur. I have lost many thousands of dollars on just a few trades from their screwups.
Well, this isn't just a bitch session, but I've paid over $5000 in commissions so far this year, and I've given up more than that on their screw-ups. In an account my size (small six figures) that hurts.
So, what are my chances of any sort of recovery on their screw-ups? They offered me 3 free trades, lol
. Any help would be appreciated.Second, and perhaps more importantly, what can I reasonably expect from a broker? I concur that I'm a complete idiot for staying with Scottrade so long, but I am moving to a different broker. To prevent this craziness from ever happening again, I need some guidelines on what I can reasonably expect from a broker, and I need some recommendations on what brokers fill that bill. Any and all advice is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bruised but not beaten
