Also at that indexfundfan site, there's an article about how SOGO starts charging margin interest at T+1 rather than T+3. http://indexfundfan.wordpress.com/2006/08/12/sogoinvest-experience-update/
With regards to the various complaints, here is my experience..... 1 - Up until late January, certain Nasdaq Stocks would show an overnight value of zero. By 9:15 am or the 1st tick of the day, that would be corrected and show the correct stock price. I panicked the 1st time I saw it, then compared the bid ask spread with my charting software and saw a pattern. any stock that EOD had a Bid ask spread of .01 - 2400 would glitch. They have since corrected that problem. I have never had an unauthorized transfer. 2 - I tend to get emails answered within 2-3 hours, When I call I get a Human and I usually get my issue routed to the correct CSR and corrected within 5 minutes. Since all these concerns were raised (the 1st 2-3 months of service, they have been resolved. Realize Sogo is less than 1 year old.) 3 - ACH's move this quick. Initiate transfer on Monday, Trade No later than Wednesday. This is a Normal Occurance for me. 4 - It took 2 days to get my account up and going (all paperwork faxed in.) Another 2 days for the 1st ACH to occur. SO I was trading withing 4 days of me filling out the online App. 5 - I dont have website issues. Had one issue pre market (around 7am) Emailed them and received a response back 15 minutes later and the website issue was resolve 30 minutes before market open. 6 - ACH withdrawals, 2 days to post to my Bank Account. 7 - Margin is T+3 8 - I averaged about 60 Trades per month with Sogo. Never a bad Fill. Only one time did the order not process immediately (when I looked at market depth, there was no one for me to sell to.) 9 - I ACAT'd from Etrade and the funds & stocks were transferred in 5 days. Of course I provided all that they asked for and the account type, SS# and name matched. If that doesnt match you will have problems and your ACAT will be rejected. If you are actively trading while your ACAT is being processed, unsettled stocks wont get transferred. ACAT 101. Put it in, and stop trading. They are not perfect, but they are worlds better than what I had experienced at Etrade. I consider myself the hands off trader. Dont get in my way, I wont get in yours, Just make sure your junk works. As I stated, the only "major" issue I had was with Margin Calls when I was all Cash. It took 2 days for them to find the problem, but they fixed it, and none of my cash positions were liquidated. Seems someone had mis-entered my data when I changed from a cash to a margin account. They weren't butt-holes about it, they were very apologetic..... All the bad wind, I think, was because they were a "startup" since then it's been smooth as silk. I plan to keep Sogo Elite (especially since IB just upped their commission cap) I have TOS, IB and Sogo, and I am happy with all 3. They each have their place. TOS and SOGO are mainly for stocks IB for futures, I am planning to automate a FOREX trading system with IB using Investor RT & Autotrader. Let's hope it works. TOS is very competitive (negotiated rates), though I like the $1 minimum that SOGO will charge on a per share basis. The MAJORITY of my trades are 200 shares or less. (I'm not big time yet) My Penny stock Trades are 1000-2000 shares at a time at this point, but I dont do a ton of them (YET) Though I have had some nice movers . My strategy wont allow me to trade larger yet (Dont want to overtrade, did that and lost too much TOOO FAST!!!) Learned that lesson real quick. Thank God I didn't blow out. It was enough to scare me right back to my rules. LOL. I am happy SOGO has gone platform based. Note, they have not officially advertised Elite either. I got wind of it in a Barrons Article. I think someone jumped the gun. I was told to call them Thursday so they could process my transfer app in full, Unfortunately I was getting tires and a battery yesterday, so that got overlooked. LOL. However I did speak with someone who gave me quite a bit of good info about the elite product. I have listed all they have given me by email, or verbally. I understand there will be a Demo of their software as well.
KS96, Since you asked; not looking to increase my credibility with any posting. I don't really care that much. Just letting people know of my bad experience.
giles117, this comment is just about 2 weeks old--written in the last month. It seems like Sogo still has issues if someone needs to close the account and take all the money out. "I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WITHDRAWL MY FUNDS SINCE 02-03-07. TODAY IS 2-20-07. NUMEROUS CALLS AND SEVERAL E-MAILS AND MESSAGES. I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE RUNAROUND SEVERAL TIMES AND I AM TIRED OF HEARING âITS BEING PROCESSED.â SOGO IS A JOKE. THEY HAD NO PROBLEM TAKING MONEY OUT OF MY BANK ACOUNT IMMEDIATELY, BUT CANT SEEM TO GET IT BACK TO ME. MAKES ME WANT TO JUMP ON A FLIGHT TO NY AND SEE SOMEONE FACE-TO-FACE. 3 WEEKS FOR MY WITHDRAWL??? IM SO PISSED THEY ARE LUCKY IM NOT THEIR MAILMAN, CAUSE IM ABOUT TO GO POSTAL YOU KNOW?"
I have seen that comment. I asked the guy for followup on that thread... Did he ever followup to let us know what happened???? If you check indexfun's experience he got his money back in 2 days. My personal experience is also the same. As a note, sometime speople mess up and complain, but they never come back to the forum to admit where they screwed up.....They just disappear. I try to show both sides. I will admit when I jacked up something so people have a balanced few. We all know how the media can twist and make something become something it wasnt..... I think we also practice that in forums.... We get mad and slant the facts to fit our perceptions..... I have read all bad reports and to this date The only problems I have had are the ones listed. I just initiated an ACAT out of Sogo 2 days ago. I'll let you know how it goes.... And No, I am not closing my SOGO account. Just moving some funds to another brokerage.
giles117, Do you mean they allow pre market trading at 7AM EST? If you basically just lose one full trading day by doing ACH-out from Sogo, wouldn't it be faster had you done ACH-out from Sogo and then ACH-in to IB rather than doing ACAT? (You lose 0 trading day doing ACH-in/out at Ameritrade.)
Trust me, with the market being indecisive last week, I figured I'd go cash (and this would be a good time to get the switch done). After watching this mild recovery (and seeing my watchlist go through the roof, I wish I had stopped the ACAT and done an ACH out and In.) Live and Learn..... Oops. Now I remember why I did ACAT, Becasue the ACH setup hadnt been completed.
Looks as though they are finalizing the details. They have added the Invest to elite transfer. I just grabbed the Internal Account Transfer form so I can move my invest over to elite. My trading money is for just that, Trading, so I dont need ACH today. if they have it up in a week or so. GREAT!!!! Hopefully they will still allow for activity levels to nullify the Data fee.