Made A Mistake Entering # Of Shares @ Schwab! Help!

Discussion in 'Trading' started by BRAD7OUT, Jun 25, 2007.

  1. I know when I opened a trading account, and I have a few of them, they all had a form that I had to sign basically saying that even though they had an algorithm to help stop you from going over your limit or margin, technology is not perfect and if I am going to trade with them, I have to accept responsibility.
    If you only lost $700, be glad, it could have been a lot worse, if you are daytrading, get used to losing money, I don't think you have much of a chance against the Schwab lawyers.
    I would have to ask myself if I really wanted to invest both the time, and money, to fight for $700, and remember, you were the one to put the numbers in, you are somewhat at fault. Just my pennies worth.
     
    #21     Jun 26, 2007
  2. t1ck3r

    t1ck3r

    Obviously they didn't code in a quote fetch for market orders to calculate your buying power. With a limit order they most likely just calculate it at the client using your limit price.

    So the work around is don't use market orders and or double check every order.

    Greg
     
    #22     Jun 26, 2007
  3. Sorry for your loss, but you DID make the error.

    And the other side of the coin is, would you be begging Schwab to take $700 out of your account if you had accidently made it as a profit?

    Good luck in your trading. :cool:
     
    #23     Jun 26, 2007
  4. Biog

    Biog


    Well put. We wouldn't be having this discussion if the mistake ended in a profit.
     
    #24     Jun 26, 2007
  5. GTS

    GTS

    However I do find it interesting that HolyGrail stated that when that situation happened to him they took back the "extra" profit. That hardly seems legit.
     
    #25     Jun 26, 2007
  6. gnome

    gnome

    We've all had a "fat finger" error or two.

    Brokers have limits and [attempted] safeguards to protect not only themselves but the clients as well. Just because the broker didn't catch and prevent a customer error it doesn't mean the broker is at fault.
     
    #26     Jun 26, 2007
  7. I agree, BUT, there are margin rules. He should not have been allowed to go that far over margin requirements. The broker has liability here in my opinion.
     
    #27     Jun 26, 2007
  8. They have some responsibility but they could also turn around and say he committed a Reg T violation and has to deposit extra funds in account to cover it.

    My advice is to demand to talk to a compliance official. Their s/w should prevent this. What if it had been 10,000,000 shares?
     
    #28     Jun 26, 2007
  9. One of the many pitfalls of DAT. It happens to the best of us.
     
    #29     Jun 26, 2007
  10. Good luck trying to recover $700 if you bring a lawyer into the mix. You'll probably be out even more money.

    Learn from the mistake. Sure, the broker could put safeguards in place on market orders, but then someone would complain that the 3 seconds it took to execute the market order cost them money.

    Here the OP made the error. Man up and accept it and learn from YOUR mistake. Whatever happened to the times where men could act like men and say - I made an error, learn from my mistake. Now we get - call a lawyer to try to recover some of the 700 bucks! You'll be lucky to get a 50/50 split and then you have to pay your lawyer...
     
    #30     Jun 26, 2007