Why is it on their website then? I'd drop them on the spot.... but I just don't like shit like this.... that's just my opinion.
It's probably true they don't hold orders... what would happen, is that the order likely goes through their HFT affiliates, which within milliseconds can outrun you and catch your order at a lower level. It happens, not sure whether this happened here... but it does say so on their website that they get paid for orderflow info. You could point that out to them and kindly ask what the affiliate HFT does with that info.... Again, your case IMO is just bad luck in being too late. I miss bids and offers all the time... up to the point that I also think someone is watching over my shoulders, but it's just part of the game.
@GotherL, do you really want to go there? What are we talking about? 1500 shares and executed 10 cents lower.... I doubt you'll get anywhere. First thing you need to do is to stop using market orders... see if it keeps happening with limit orders... document any mishaps and think it really through....
Credible data will be everything. His claim was they were front-running repeatedly. Time and sales would prove it in a heartbeat. Trades on U.S. exchanges done by members no matter where the broker is located. The issue isn't the actual loss - it's the front-running. "The first $1,000,000 fine we levied when I was at CBOE was against Bridge Trading for frontrunning. You say they have done this to you repeatedly and you are fine to flame them, but not to complain. I wish I had been the whistleblower. He was a new hire on their desk and made one phone call to CBOE market regulation. Took a while, but he earned six figures for the tip."
I had a look at this particular issue... there's no way HFT linked with his broker was frontrunning his order and made the stock drop 5%... the volume that OP traded vs the volume during the fall makes that clear.
Well... I don't know. He will probably be wasting more time making a complaint with the SEC.... To understand how and why something has happened is always a good thing. And IMO that email conversation between him and his broker seems a bit dodgy, in the sense that they don't go into the fact that they sell info... but I guess first reaction if always to cover your own ass... I just don't see a particular issue with what happened. We all know about latency, probably latency through a discount broker in the Bahama's is not great...
Jack - I was being a bit sarcastic. He claimed systemic front- running. Latency would hit both the front run order and the real order., but the issue is most likely not latency or front-running. What's the weather in Sydney - got really cold in Chicago