E-Trade stops at least $.10 away?

My brother-in-law has an E-Trade account and tells me that when he puts a stoploss amount in, it says that is must be at least 10 cents away from the current price.
10 cents isn't much I guess unless maybe you are either trading big lots or penny-size stuff, but shouldn't they just say that it's commission + .10 x number of shares if you use stops?

 

Scottrade's stop rule is at least .15 from the current bid.

 

Last time I used ETrade to place a trade in my IRA, I couldn't even place a stop loss. The bid/ask were at 0.00 but the last price was correct.

Ouch!!!

 

I'm thinking of telling my brother-in-law to switch brokers.
With shares trading with penny spreads I don't see the purpose to force a .10 spread against yourself. Isn't it all automated in fast computer transaction anyway? It's not like sending an e-mail where the price can move a lot before someone types it in (or is it?)
He has a decent-sized account, and I think something like CyberTrader would let him input a stop without a forced .10 minimum (yes, he's bought some penny stocks in the past looking for that next Microsoft
)

 

Unless you plan to just do swings or invesments, ETRADE is a piece of dogcrap.