I had my first ever trade problem yesterday. At the end of the day, I shut down TWS and noticed a short position that was not there before. I dug into it and found that 100 shares of a 200 share trade from early in the morning had been canceled. The cancel time was 16:40, after the close of market. I had exited the trade hours earlier, so now rather than flat, I show a 100 share short position! It changed a winning trade into a loss. I got on IB chat at about 5:00pm and the rep told me that there was a problem at the exchange, EDGA, and the exchange sent them a email that they would cancel a bunch of trades and restore them "shortly" The rep told me not to worry, I am flat. But, today, my account still shows a short position and no one answers IB chat or responds to tickets. If I am getting stuck with the unexpected short, then I need to close it ASAP. But if I am really flat, then if I buy it in, I will be long. I have no idea what my true position is. This is scary. I do automated trades. If a closed trades start getting unwound after the end of day, it would be a real mess. Plus, I doubt a loosing trade would ever be canceled. Is this normal? In three years of trading, I have only had one other busted trade before, with a different broker. In that case, I got a phone call within 20 minutes and it was removed before the normal exit. This is a mess.
I have had problems like this but not recently. As IB said, the problem is with the exchange. It was much worse before they added the portfolio page to the TWS.
The fill was at the inside bid/ask at the time. Only the 100 shares on EDGEA where canceled. The other 100 shares on ARCA where not.
It sounds like something that slipped through the cracks and could be resolved easily. I have found calling IB (instead of tickets or chat) produces much better results for these types of scenarios.
I am on chat with a rep now. He is checking with the back office. It looks like the trade was restored at the exchange, but my account was not updated. Not surprised that this kind of thing would slip through the automation. Hoping for a resolution soon.
Join the club. Most stock and futures brokers have become like fx bucket shops. I am sure you were turning a profit on the account. The desk was quite upset. I don't know about IB. The story in Sweden though with the automated robot and the conviction of the traders that beat it shows that this is not just a brokerage but a proprietary trading firm.
Nah. Just a simple accounting issue that needed human intervention to resolve. My little account shows a modest profit, but not at IB's expense. I am a good customer.
The log now shows that the missing trade was restored, but my portfolio position in TWS still shows short. I suspect that I need to restart TWS to show the flat position. I will restart at the end of the day and confirm that the issue is resolved. Small drama, but looks like a happy ending....