Quote from CeNY:
enhancement@schwab.com
Fire for effect...
How's this:
As a former Cyber Trader customer, I am very disappointed with the SS Pro platform. It totally froze and was unuseable for most of yesterday afternoon after the Fed announcement. No matter how many features the platform eventually has, if it isn't rock solid reliable and stable, it is unuseable for active traders like myself.
Many of the specific features that made Cyber so user friendly and intuitive have been lost. The following enhancements are so obvious I can't believe they weren't included:
1. Ability to short through ECNs. As it is SS Pro is not even a true direct access platform.
2. Access to full pre and post market sessions without restrictions.
3. Ability to set a default hidden order size, ie send an order for 100 shares but display 100 only. To be useable it has to be settable as a default, since you don't have time in the heat of trading to go through additional boxes.
4. Reduce the size of the trading window by eliminating or relocating the spec order box. The SS Pro windows are one line taller than those on Cyber, which eats up a lot of screen real estate.
5. My trading windows are showing only my position, ie L:500, but not the average entry price as Cyber did. This is very useful info to have in front of you.
6. Cyber displayed the number of shares shortable, which was very useful.
7. The balance bar is almost totally useless. The account net worth number doesn't update, there is no window for closed P & L and the Day Trade BP number is incorrect, since it apparently doesn't factor in MM balances. Really an embarrassing mess IMO.
8. The Account Detail window needs some work. Again, the Day trade BP is incorrect. The order status tab is not nearly as easy to read as the one from Cyber. Plus, it retains orders from prior days, which is very confusing. The positions tab likewise displays positions which have been sold. In Cyber, the window defaulted to the order status tab when a new order was entered, which was very useful and a good way to guard against accidental or "fat finger" mistakes.
9. The Buy and Sell keys' positions are reversed from where they were in Cyber. I know that this is causing a lot of trouble for former Cyber users.
10. Although not an enhancement, I have to say that Cyber was known for excellent customer service. Apparently this is not a priority for Schwab. I have heard numerous horror stories of long waits, customer service reps who couldn't answer questions, etc. I had the experience of being on Live Help for over 20 minutes trying to get a simple question about my BP resolved. Finally I gave up in frustration, as the rep seemed to know less than I did about the issue and he disappeared for long periods between responses. Totally unacceptable and very different from the Cyber experience.
These are not really enhancements but rather are items needed to make SS Pro useable for day traders and other active traders. As it is, SS Pro is not a direct access platform and is woefully short of replacing Cyber.
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Maybe if everyone copied and sent this to them, we might get their attention.
