Fattyasids, nice reply. What is your point? It's my bet that Wizdom2 is looking for some facts that he can use to make some type of decision. I doubt that he is looking for derogatory statements which could be self serving as far as anyone else knows. I am positive that everyone would appreciate any information that you give that can be understood and cross-referenced with other sources. I'm not trying to be an a**, but there are a lot of us on this board seeking real information that we can use for employment decisions, etc. The more this board resembles a yahoo board, the more idiots will show up.
isnt saying ''avoid them at all cost" just an easier way to say a whole lot of other negative things???? whats the big deal ?? if someone told me ''avoid them at all cost'' then i would have heard enough... the question was asked..... you cant expect someone to say nice things about everything !
I agree with the comments of HoustonTrader that details are better. If you've had specific experiences with them good or bad it's better to state them. Otherwise for all we know maybe you're just parroting someone else's opinion. And I agree we don't want these forums to turn into a Yahoo message boards mentality, not that saying "Avoid them at all costs" is. I had two accounts with Watley for a while about 2-3 years ago and they were okay. I'd rate them average. But I switched to another broker with better commissions. I'm not sure how their commissions are now. They were using a version of RealTick when I was there. They had a high rating at Gomez http://www.gomezwire.com/ a few years ago, but it doesn't even look like Gomez rates direct access brokers anymore. Good Luck. PM me if you need more help. PS. This was my experience but it was several years ago and evidently they've changed since then. More comments on them on this site can be found here http://www.elitetrader.com/br/?action=view&R_FirmID=7 and ratings on all the different brokers here http://www.elitetrader.com/br/
Their software is the worst. It goes down daily. Options quotes never work. They use Penson to clear. Their management crew is a scam. They screw everyone. Btw, I mentioned this in a previous post I think.
I'm serious - they are the bottom of the barrell. Their website doesn't even reflect the management changes that occurred months ago. They are trying to hide something.
fattyasids, Those are good posts and I'm sure people will avoid AB Watley after reading this. Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize they had changed so much until I saw some of the posts in the broker ratings section. They were okay when I used them but things change. The other thing you can do next time in responding is maybe give a link to your previous posts for this person who, as you'll see by looking at their sign up date, is new. It's great that the traders here can help each other out. Thanks.
Just to share more info with everyone, I also just replied to a PM from fattyasids with this response : Thanks for the message. I'm not interested in them. As I mentioned, I used them for a while off a recommendation from Gomez. Should have known better as Gomez had a firm called WebStreet rated # 1 at one time too. My first so called "direct access" broker. Do you remember them? Out of Chicago. They were THE WORST! Ha. If you'd cancel an order it sometimes took HOURS to get a confirmation that it had actually been cancelled. And you couldn't trade in the meantime. Ha. It was REALLY bad. And they were VERY dishonest. Giving you these really bad fills and then defending their practices and treating you like hell along the way. They went out of business (no wonder) and sold their accounts to E*Trade. You obviously had a bad experience with ABW. Sorry to hear it. But I'm sure you saved the guy that started the thread from the same fate. Good for you. B
check out the stock...ABWGE. there's a reason they're there. didn't file all the paperwork necessary to stay listed.. techies left the company left and right, and those that stayed didn't know things such as a traceroute. used to be one of the *best* firms out there. they jumped the shark roughly around the time they started hugely advertising on cnbc.