ddefina, I second that autoliquidate idea. Perhaps it can be an option left to each customer so that if they wish they can toggle it off and on. But then again, if their system is down, how is it supposed to get you out?
$3.32 a riund turn, plus a $550 monthly fee. The monthly fee is quickly amortized over a month's trading if you do multiple lots with multiple round turns. Example: 5 contracts at only 10 round turns a day for 20 trading days at $3.32 a round turn + $550 = an average of $3.87 a round turn.
Sorry to say that, but it is always the same scenario: we are good as long as long we need customers, once we have them ....
This is not true and you know it. I'm in a no win situation here. I know the vast majority of clients are happy and satisfied with the level of service and executions they get. However, no matter what I say here I'll get hosed. As for the question of guarantees -- there are none in electronic trading. There are too many variables in play. A broker will make a judgement call after the fact.
this is very true. I've had times when I get the IB guys calling me every single day saying, "uh you know that order you did the other day, that never got filled so uh, essentially you are long the market because your buy to exit was actually an entry" then, I go, like what the fuck man are you serious, and they say yeah, but we aint responsible, you want me to exit that order for you. and I say, hell yeah. then the guy calls me up the next day and says actually the original order was filled, but now i'm an uncovered futures position because blah blah blah. this kinda shit goes on alot at IB. It happened to me many many times. also, 5k is nothing, I lost 40k over an outage. I called them and they actually couldn't exit the position because they lost their connection to globex. so I sat thru 4-5 hours of brain numbing NQ jerks while they "fixed" the problem.
We had the same thing happen a couple of years ago with an option order; every 3 or 4 hours we had a new open leg because the original order's status changed about 5 times; very ugly ...
I'm also in favor of some type of auto liquidation system but the user should be able to opt out.... I was curious if anyone was using stops...? All this talk about being at ther mercy of the market is getting me nervous.... I know they are kept on the IB servers but I would hope they would still trigger even if the user end was having problems. I just opened a futures account with IB and am in the funding phase. Although I have traded stocks with IB before and can honestly say I never had a problem, I plan on trading the ES this time. I always enter a stop about 2 points away from entry and move it every 2-5 minutes as it follows a sma on my chart.... I always have a little loss, a breakeven trade.... or a small or large profit. . I would assume if I were to get disconnected my stop would take me out of my position should the market move against me . Should I not assume this....? Nick
Lundy and Metooxx, In the cases you referenced, did IB first positively confirm that trades were executed and then later change the status of the trades? Or did you assume execution? Were there any special circumstances (e.g., fast markets, an exchange nixing trades, ...) that may have reasonably explained the situations? Def, You seem to have considerable market experience, so I am reasonably certain you agree that it is not just traders but also brokers (from floor brokers to primary dealers to direct access retail brokers) that accept some risks in this business. Your statement that brokers will make judgement calls and the fact that IB has recently made some fee concessions are consistent with this view. Clearly problems outside the control of a broker (for example client errors or decisions by exchanges) are assumed by the trader. Also, I have never heard of brokers making concessions for opportunity costs, i.e., profits that could have been made or losses avoided if I could have connected with the broker in time. On the other hand, every institutional and retail broker I have dealt with assumed responsibility in instances when they were clearly in error (e.g., failing to execute clearly marketable orders, confirming a cancel that was later executed, etc). Hence, I did not completely understand what you meant when you said there are no guarantees. Specifically as a potential client of IB, I am interested in your view regarding changes to order status after trade/cancel confirmations and during normal market conditions. Thanks, I appreciate any thoughts you might have. O.