I saw the prices printed lower than my limit price on my GTC limit buy order that I left overnight (to buy puts option at $1.1) during regular trading hours the following day (this morning) but my order was NOT executed. The inherent loss of income amounts to $4K as I am writing this email. I emailed Ameritrade and they replied with the following email response "The asking price of this option was only at $1.10 or lower for 2 seconds all within the first 8 seconds of the market. Nothing is due on your order" I got the impression that they didn't want to pay the pipe for what I thought was a result of their mistake. What should I do? Thanks all in advance.
I don't know if they will pay you, my guess would be not. If you threaten to take business elsewhere they might give you some free trades. Also consider going someplace else for a broker. I used to be TD and went to one of their options seminars where they basically explained what puts and calls were. TD isn't really a trader brokerage. Other advice would be get trade alerts on your phone or something so you know if you get filled. And maybe loosen up the limit
Thanks for your advice. My question is whether it's even legal for Ameritrade (or any brokerage for that matter) to claim "best execution" which, as it turned out in my case, they refused to honor. I am not a lawyer, but I think this probably falls under false advertisement. True? I think I will move my account somewhere else once it becomes clear that what I saw was their final resolution.
Well most places have some variation on "best execution" but that doesn't necessarily mean much. "Best execution" with TD is going to be slower than a lot of firms. Most of the TD clients don't care about options, order execution, order routing or fill prices so they don't have much of a need for really fast executions. And I'm not sure what options you're trading or how much volume they have, but getting filled when the price drops for 2 seconds in the morning might be hard task at anyplace.
I'm my experience TD-A gives good fills in general. You can't assume that you will fill just because the price crossed your line for 2 seconds with any broker.
It doesnt sound like a fill was due. They go back and check T&S with any issues like that. They would give it to you if it was due from my experience.
A similar event happened with IB as well. IB CSR metioned that by the time SMART router i.e. IB's auto-router re-routes the order, the order is no longer the best bid/ask. Things like that is not impossible close to market open. If your broker auto-route can fill such orders in such situations, it is great.
"The asking price of this option was only at $1.10 or lower for 2 seconds all within the first 8 seconds of the market. Nothing is due on your order" --------------------------- You might ask exactly how many seconds is necessary to execute an order. I would be curious to know if any orders were filled within that two seconds. I would probably ask what would be the proper way to execute an order in the event this happens again. Obviously, you already lost on this issue but I might enjoy a 4k worth of hassle with a string of questions, the key would be to wait for a reply and build on it.
I don't think Ameritrade or anyone claims best execution for options. An Ameritrade rep even told me once that I won't necessarily get the NBBO when trading options. He said they direct an order to a single, predetermined exchange for each option. An example: If exchange A is 1.00x1.10 and exchange B is 1.00x1.20 and you put in a limit order to buy at 1.10, they may send it to exchange B and if B doesn't want to fill you at 1.10 they'll post your bid and the market will be locked. Someone from exchange A may cross over and fill you. Furthermore, if you place an order to buy at $1.20, you may get filled by B at $1.20, despite A offering a better price
what exchance was your order sitting on, and on what exchange was the ask/trade in question? Without that info you do not have a case or a real investigation.