not talking about going through a clearing firm. SLK clearly doesn't give a shit about our fills, since they could very well be the specialist firm i'm complaining about! some of these guys are unbelievable.
aren't there avenues through your firm? geez, you'd think they'd like to keep someone like you happy...
write to market surveillance: nyse inc 30 broad st ny ny 10005 if you call, or go to the web site, they will refer you to put your issue in writing to market surveillance. everyone ought to do it.
Speaking from experience, filing a complaint against a thieving specialist is a waste of time, no matter how brazen his thievery. The arbitrators are his fellow specialists, and will always rule against you.
thx...that's exactly what i was looking for and daniel...i can get someone here to do something, but they will just call SLK. since they are both our clearing firm, and possibly the one screwing me on the fill with their specialist arm, they certainly are not going to help. i've asked them to look at fills before, and they pretend like they do something, but just come back with the same 'orders ahead' bs. i know this for sure because of this instance last week; long a thin stock (believe it had done about 400k shares). there was an offer 3,300 at .66 on open book. i sent an order in for 2300. . he held it for a second, then printed 2300 at .66, then spread it up to .80, and filled some stop orders up there. i assumed i got .66, but when i got the fill, it said .80. clearly, the specialist just made a mistake on the report. there is no way somebody happened to send 2300 shares the very same second as myself on a very thin stock. plus, there was no print for 2300 up there. he printed all the stops separately up there. i called SLK, pointed all this out, and of course got the canned 'dot orders ahead' response. what bullshit. me; 'somebody just happened to buy 2300 shares at the same second then?' SLK; uhhh, i guess so. me; 'f'ing liar' - click. they don't care, won't report it to market surveillance, or anything else. i don't expect to get reimbursed by market survellance, but at least i feel like maybe they'll get in trouble at some point if they keep doing it. (not really talking about this, as it was just a mistake.). i'm more talking about this other stock, which in the last week has twice held my orders for over 3 minutes in order to let the orders build up, uses a 1's on the bids and offers 90% of the time, and then gaps the stock against me. if you use marketable limit orders, he'll print just beyond it, and price improve everything else. clearly, he's letting the crowd trade ahead of the dot orders.
i sent an order in for 2300. . he held it for a second, then printed 2300 at .66, then spread it up to .80, and filled some stop orders up there. i assumed i got .66, but when i got the fill, it said .80. How could you get filled at a higher than limit price?....or did you use a market order....(you know better than to ever use a market order....especially on a thin stock). If you did use a market order, then you don't really have a way of documenting a complaint....but.... In any case, your firm should give you a print out of time and sales showing who took the first 2300 (I'll bet it was not the Specialist). I know it sucks, that's why we only use limit orders.... Not being critical....at all... It was good seeing you in Atlanta!! Don
true. i used a market order, but only because i didn't want others with open book to see the order i put in. if they had, buyers would've most definitely overwhelmelmed the 3300 (which they did anyway because he held the orders and froze everything for so long, helped along with the stops that were at the .66 offer). NX orders would've taken any priority i had, setting off the stops in the process, leaving my DOT order in the dust.
You are wasting your time. You can document and complain until the cows come home. It is a mafiosa at 11 Wall Street.
Larry Hill is the guy in charge of market surveillance at the NYSE. Unfortunately, his department doesn't even have "Time & Sales" in front of them. Everything needs to be in writing and his associates, the ones that he usually hands things off to will not accept E-mails. Everything needs to be in writing and FAXED. I had several complaints the way that SUSQUEHANNA was handling the trading of a listed stock. It was a total joke the way that this specialist continued to lower the bids and allowed 1200 lot market orders to take the stock up or down .30 cents at a clip. He couldn't step up to the plate and make a bid if his life depended on it! And this was in a stock that does 1.3 million shares per day!!! In any event, I felt that my effort was a total waste of time. It's been a couple of months since my complaints and all I have received is a brief letter from the NYSE saying that they are taking a look at things . . . Give me a break! I got a much better response from the acting CFO of the company itself. He called up the President of Susquehanna and told the guy that if they couldn't make a fair and orderly market in their companies stock, he'd find someone that could! Amen. Guess what? The specialist immediately began trading the stock in a much smoother and orderly fashion. Money talks, bullshit walks.