MB Trading PL

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by Bob111, Apr 27, 2004.

  1. Bob111

    Bob111

    first time i saw a broker, who calculate PL from yesterday close, not from price @ you enter into stock. just get f**d because of it.
    did suggest them to put it on front page to make sure rest of the customers did not get confused...
    on top of it-they charge $0.01 (per share!) for GTC order(never see this anywhere either) and you can't place stop order before market actually open(9:30). this mean-if you have position on stock-you will never see real PL, you have to place targets and stops everyday and if you are working regular hours-forget about trading in mb. as they lower they commisions-short inventory is became way too short too.
    i'm out..
     
  2. ChrisRT

    ChrisRT

    Not sure exactly what the problem is, but maybe this helps.

    MB calculates p/l on mark to market. This is passed down from the clearing firm and as far as I know many other firms do the same thing. They have a note field in the position minder which allows me to type in the cost basis so I will always know in the event they want to position trade. Each day they have to update the accounts for buying power etc., therefore they must take the current value of any of my positions. This is why you see each day mark to market.

    It might be inconvenient especially for partials, when the trader doesn't know their cost basis because of the partial fills, but it's a clearing firm issue in respect to MB. Not sure you can find it different elsewhere, but if so, let us know.

    Short inventory hasn't changed any that I can see. Anything in particular I missed?

    The GTC orders are manually entered on their desk which is why the charge. I'm all for no charges, but I suppose they have to do what they have to do. The system is mainly built for the active trader. The occassional trader that wants the GTC orders, I agree, MB probably isn't the best platform for this type of trader. But as an active trader, I still am pleased.
     
  3. WinSum

    WinSum

    Bob,

    Keep us posted when you find a replacement. I might switch too. Not for the same reason as you, but not satisfy nevertheless.
     
  4. Bob111

    Bob111

    how i suppose to calculate PL from 3 ago position? with calculator?
    i have lots of trades on short side and sometime IB just don't have stock for short. before i open account in MB i keep record of ability to short stock in MB for couple month. with both account according to my my records about 95% or trades will be shortable on either account.
    don't know, what MB do,but they even allow you to short 11830 code stocks. after they offer lower commission(don't know, if it related or no) for me looks like short list is pretty much same as in IB.
    so..anyway-dont know about they way of calculation of PL(because IB doing it just right and i assume MB doing it same way)-i enter into one small position couple days ago, stock did move my way and i have some profits on it..today-i open MB account and all i see is relatively big loss. since stock move very fast,loss grow rapidly, position basic show me some crazy numbers i did close position with loss. after i did figure out what is wrong with numbers i realize that loss is small and it far away from my stop. now-tell me,what i have to think about MB,if cost of basic is not right,PL is not right and on top of it-realized PL on balance window is not right either? is it so hard for them, to put open position basics on file(just like let say QT do?)
    how i suppose to read those numbers? my calculations show a $300 loss and mb balance is show -$650 in realized PL?
    it doesn't look right for me(don't know about others)
     
  5. Bob111

    Bob111

    more i try to trade with MB-more problems i see. -today-trying to short couple stocks on open,put them in L2 window to check,if stocks are shortable-it says-YES, but after i place order to short-order get rejected, reason- not shortable!. wft is wrong with this people? they create platform for *active traders*(reason for wronr PL calculation)-ok,but show me right info! what i can do and what i can't!