No, you don't have to rely on audit trail at all. But when in doubt, it's there. Especially important if you cancel a marketable order and want to see if it cancelled or executed. The audit trail will reveal that information faster than the trade confirmation report. And it's far more detailed. Not many brokers give you access to an audit trail. Other than that, there's nothing else you need to check.
KTM, Thanks for your thoughts. We're on the exact same page. I am a fan of IB too. I've never had any major problems until now. I think they provide a good product for an excellent price. Hopefully they are fair too...
I daytrade, so I don't really have time to check this and check that. I think I will solely rely on the flag. If it says "red", I just trust the platform. Hopefully the flag is reliable, isn't it?
never happens. Only happens anecdotally. Meaning, when somene F#%$ed up, they'll claim that it went red or black. But when they have to submit the audit trail or IB submits their copy, it shows they were wrong. Rare. No, not at all. In fact if you do start off like that, you tend to delay the problem. Just state the facts. Save your audit trail (they have a copy of it already just in case you didn't). Be patient. Usually addressed/resolved within 48 hours. But they will acknowledge your situation sooner than that. Also, make sure that if you have an issue, you report it as soon as you notice it. Some issues have a time window for reporting. This time window is generally mandated by the exchanges.
It is. One tip: when you actually become a customer, set your TWS delay before cleanup (found under configure) to 5-10 secs or more so you can see the status and the fill before it disappears. And keep you fill window up and pinned.
Repeat after me, IB is the best we can expect, we don't deserve any better, their customer service is second to none, everybody else is worse, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Well I have an update for you. Nothing to do with my original request that IB reimburse the 6300 dollars I lost due to their incorrect assignment statement though. This time my account is now down an additional 11K. I find myself short 4 ES contracts and a few options contracts I put on for August have been liquidated. I have no idea what happened or how. I just spoke with customer service. They're looking at it and will call me back. What a day, (17K) without making a losing trade I will keep you updated...
Still waiting for IB to call back but I think I wasn't assigned on any of the 20 short ES 1245s now. I liquidated 10 ES contracts from the original mistake. Then it looks like they assigned me 10 more short at around 12:00pm CST. Then they liquidated 6 of them (along with a few of my options positions for August) and now I'm short 4 ES. Please stop taking my money IB!!!
Update: I just spoke with Customer Service. They informed me that only 10 of the 1245 Puts were unassigned still. However, they doubled the transaction of the short 10 ES. They were very professional and admitted making a mistake. They're in the process of adjusting my positions back to just the initial 6300 dollar loss. They are also reinstating my options positions that they liquidated. Again, I understand mistakes will happen, but it's been a brutal day... Anyway, here's an email I received from IB this morning about the initial 10 1245 Puts they said that didn't get assigned. Notice that they admit it's their fault. Dear Trader, Your account was incorrectly assigned on a futures options position (ES SEP 1245 P) . Due to a system issue IB was unable reflect the lapse in assignment. Accordingly, the following entry has been made to your account: Sell 10 ES Sep06 @ 1245 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact IB. Regards, Interactive Brokers Customer Service