Unethical Conduct by IB

[stock777]

how do you know what kind of losses are incurred by the 'big guys', when something goes wrong?

This is piker stuff, and unless you have proof it's deliberate and widespread , amounts to nothing in terms of $.

Seems to me a firm in Japan just lost 300 million dollars due to an entry error and exchange malfunction.

You ever lose that much?

 

[WD40]

Quote from sprstpd:

One day (more than a year ago) I had an order disappear from my TWS for no apparent reason. I logged out and back in and still the order was nowhere to be seen. I knew I hadn't cancelled the order so just on a whim I logged into the IB Mobile Trader:

https://wt1.interactivebrokers.com/MT3G/servlet/LoginS

I was able to see the order here and cancel it. I haven't had the problem since.

Hi Sprstpd: THanks for the link. This is VERY useful !!!

 

[BSAM]

Quote from stock777:

.....Seems to me a firm in Japan just lost 300 million dollars due to an entry error and exchange malfunction.

You ever lose that much?

Uh...I felt like I did one day.

 

[DHOHHI]

Quote from tfjield:

Depending on the size of this guys loss, I totally agree. The financial industry runs rampant while trampling the little guys so the big guys can make a buck. When someone loses money because of a platform/brokerage issue, the company calls it an "inherent risk in trading," and they're not liable. Of course, if they forgot to get you on a commission one day, they would surely do it the next.

We traders and customers need to start voting with our money, and if required, our lawyers. If you're going to run such a business, sometime's reimbursing clients for problems with your system is just the price of doing business.

If your platform does not indicate you have a position open or an order open, then you shouldn't have either. If you do, THEY screwed up. It's prudent to double check, of course, but failure to double-check is not the cause of the problem.

Geez, if you aren't willing to take the risks involved in trading then put your money under a mattress or in a CD. Late confirms and the like happen occasionally. Technical glitches happen from time to time. It's part of trading. You wanna name any system that has 100% up time and 100% reliability and 100% perfect.

And you don't know sh$t about what the big guys deal with from time to time. Obviously you're not a full time trader.

 

[stock777]

Quote from BSAM:

Uh...I felt like I did one day.

Haven't we all.

 

[tfjield]

Quote from stock777:

how do you know what kind of losses are incurred by the 'big guys', when something goes wrong?

This is piker stuff, and unless you have proof it's deliberate and widespread , amounts to nothing in terms of $.

Seems to me a firm in Japan just lost 300 million dollars due to an entry error and exchange malfunction.

You ever lose that much?

Yeah, the big guys are losing money hand-over-fist. That's why the financial industry is so non-lucrative. You can tell by their cheap, crappy buildings.

Mizuho lost a ton of money because of THEIR screwup. Unfortunately, my brokerage won't give me enough leverage to be able to cause them to lose 300 million... If I did, I guess I could just tell them that trading is "inherently risky." I'm sure that's what they would tell me if they screwed up my order...

As for IB, I think they did a very good job of responding to this thread in a detailed and careful manner. Kudos!

Was this really all for a little over $100????

 

[kiwi_trader]

Agreed.

Thanks for following up IB and sorry that TraderGuy took a bath on the order -- but educated the rest of us with his problem.

The thread title is thus incorrect.

 

[Bitstream]

yeah, u also can't expect ib reps to trip over each other to answer to da op with a freakin' thread title like that, innit[?]

 

[tomcole]

Three curious things-

1. If you see a customer not being treated fairly at other business', most people dont go back. From the comments here, most of you appear to think he was treated fairly. Odd.

2. No one here knows if the broker's rep has the authority to say any of whats being said. The brokers paperwork involves very one-sided fine print. If this happened in buying a house, car etc, you'd go get a lawyer before you sign. Maybe you should do that with broker docs as well.

3. When Tier 1 houses have a trade dispute, it generally gets split and everyone moves on. The bigger issue is maintaining good relations so that business goes forward in the future. No one hides behind semantics. The issue of good will is what drives the decision - that doesnt seem to be the case here.

 

[sprstpd]

Quote from tomcole:

Three curious things-

1. If you see a customer not being treated fairly at other business', most people dont go back...

2. No one here knows if the broker's rep has the authority to say any of whats being said. The brokers paperwork involves very one-sided fine print...

3. When Tier 1 houses have a trade dispute, it generally gets split and everyone moves on...

1. IB has always been fair with me. Everytime there is a public dispute on EliteTrader, I have followed the thread. IB seems to explain itself thoroughly in each case. In this case, I believe the user did not understand his obligation to follow up on his order.

2. If I were running a brokerage, I would probably have the same user agreement that IB has. In summary, it says, "If you enter an order, you are responsible for the order until you get a confirmed out." This seems reasonable to me.

3. I find this "splitting trade disputes" to be annoying. Either the order was filled or it wasn't. The "splitting trades" philosophy tends to reward whining which I detest.