can mistaken trades by broker be busted?

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by loufah, Oct 30, 2008.

  1. My broker mistakenly sold $13K worth of stock today for an $800 margin call. I called them (about a minute after it happened) and they offered to restore my positions. As far as I can tell, by watching the trade log, this means they bought at market rather than busting the erroneous trades. (They did bust a pair of erroneous trades they made - incorrect quantity - when they were trying to restore the positions).

    I'm not happy about this because these were long-term positions, and now the tax consequences are going to cost me if I don't hold them for another year.

    Can the broker bust the erroneous trades, or am I out of luck?
     
  2. jem

    jem

    would not the easiest way to correct the problem be to make sure your broker does not report the sales to the IRS?
     
  3. I doubt they can bust the trades. Zero chance I think.


    You might ask them to put the trade into their error account, thereby avoiding it as a reportable event.
     
  4. They nullified all the transactions, both the erroneous sells and the buys to reinstate them, overnight.

    Maybe they moved the transactions to an error account. And they made money on the deal; when my positions were bought back late yesterday, the market was down so much that the shares were around $200 cheaper than when they had been sold earlier in the day.