I have a serious problem with my broker that I need some advice with. I placed 4 orders with Robbins Trading on Friday 11th October and at that time I was long 2 US Z2 @ 114 and short 3 NG X2 @ 3.86 from the previous day. I placed a buy at market open order for 3 Natural Gas and also a buy stop order for 2 Natural Gas @ 3.97. My market open order was missed but my stop order was filled, which still left me short 1 NG X2 @ 3.86. By the time the market opened on Monday Natural Gas was trading at 4.205. If my orders were executed correctly, I would have made a profit on Friday of $750 and by Monday another profit of $4,700. Instead I am left with a loss of $4,550. The net effect to my account is exactly US$10,000, which is a substantial portion of my account. Robbins contacted me and informed me that because my order was emailed they have no obligation to reimburse me for the loss, but said they would give me a commission break of $5 round turn so I can make it up over time. Robbins claims that there are problems when orders are emailed. The only problem I can see is when the email is not received, however, this is not the case here as they did receive the email, which is evident by them placing the second order. So, a confirmation that Robbins was working the order is obvious by the execution of the second order. I have contacted the National Futures Authority but they have not responded and it has been a week since I raised the complaint. I have worked for a broker before trading on the floor of the Sydney Futures Exchange and we always reimbursed clients for our errors and I assumed that this was industry standard. How can someone in charge of such large amounts of money escape responsibility when they have made a mistake? Has this industry no credibility? I presumed that the function of the National Futures Authority was to enforce the stability and professionalism of the futures industry and they will not even respond to my complaint. Perhaps I am just little bitter because of the size of the mistake, but then again I really believe I have a strong case. Do I have any alternatives or should I just close my account and start selling systems instead? Thanks for listening, Peter.
You have started on the correct track, by publicising the obscenely unfair behavior of this broker on the most widely read serious trading forum perhaps in the world... Please continue to inform this heavily populated online trading community of your progress, or otherwise, with Robbins Trading...
Peter, Any joy with these *&%$! as yet? Keep the online trading community informed of your progress in getting your money back. Its on highly populated forums like these that we get to know who the good guys and the cheats are. Robbins Trading are indeed well-known for administering their online trading competitions (and winning one of them can help to raise huge amounts of investment funds)... but for traders who wish to enter the Robbins Trading competition, it is vital that they can trust Robbins Trading on execution issues (I concede that this is the ulterior motive I have in wanting to see you to get your money back with an apology)... Candle