The New Schwab SSPro is here and it SUCKS!!!!!! If you download the SSPro platform it will update and grab your setting from your current CT setup. The process takes a while !! There is way too much time spent making sure your order is routed properly to open a short and the fill time is slow. Much to be desired from the account details. A nice feature with CT is to see every trade you make print your profit or loss in the messages of confirmation. I will give it a chance for a few weeks but if I see myself lose more money (as I already have) fumbling around with this third rate (compareded to CT) platform I will be on my way. I am so frustrated I am stopping for the rest of the day and will go to demo mode and screw around without risking anything to better get familiar with the new arrangement of buttons. The absence of the short button when you are routed to ECN is confusing, your forst thought is "there are no shorts available" was nice to see the shorts available on CT..
I read on the Schwab FAQ that they aggregate confirmations for fills within 30 seconds. I guess that is their way of saying you have to wait 30 seconds for a confirmation. Obviously, that is terrible. Do you have to do anything for the SSPro to pick up your settings or is it auto?
When you download SS pro, it will detect your CT software and prompt you if you want to transfer your CT settings to SS pro.
I've been using SSPro for a few years, and unless they've changed it during the past few weeks, what happens is this: trade confirmations appear in the messages window a second or two after the execution. The balances window, and the account value/change today/buying power fields at the very top are updated about 30 seconds later (they get updated every 15 minutres or whenever an execution occurs).
Thanks. Regarding confirmations, I was going by what their FAQ said. If they give instant confirms, that's great. I still think this entire process has been a disaster. They ruined an excellent platform and alienated a large number of their best customers. Now they are pretty much forcing their high volume customers to use another broker for their real trading and just do the minimum with Schwab to keep the free platform. I wish someone from Schwab would come on here and explain just what their reasoning was. Or preferably, come on here and say they have fired the people who came up with this idea.
I upgraded to SSPro 4.16. It's a significant improvement to swing traders like me who've been using SSPro up until now, but I empathize with the pain of Cybertrader users who can't direct trade any more and can't see the number of shares available to short. Anyway, - 20 trading windows, 20 chart windows. - Cancel and CancelAll buttons on each trading window. - BuyToCover button has been removed (wasn't somebody here saying that was a ploy to get you to buy twice when you wanted to go from short to long?). - Default order quantities can be set on a per-symbol basis. - Trade Lot Details window, shows each lot, the date it was opened, and the cost. - Tick charts (but it looks like they show only trades, not bid & ask).
What a laughable joke SSPRO is from Cyber. Can't get short shares for sheet on AAPL, RIMM, and a ton more. The account detail window on tracking your daily trades and P/L is garbage! P/L works while your in the trade then it disaappears. Give me a break. Talk about a total colosile failure this is. I have never seen Gold turned into shit so fast in my life!
and getting help from Live Help or even on the phone this morning was a joke. I understand if there were a few minor issues with the platform after the transfer...but to be unable to get buying power listed correctly, or clear out old nonexistent positions is unexcusable. If this doesn't improve in the next few days...I'll be transferring my account over to IB. The only reason to stay with Cyber/Schwab rather than going to IB was the customer service. 15 minutes on hold to talk to customer service..and then given two different numbers to call to finally get someone to answer some basic questions...pathetic.
So I tried a trade this morning to see what would happen. I took a small short on aapl just after the open. i was 12 cents below the bid and it didn't fill. then 33 seconds later i was filled 31 cents above my limit. I'm sure schwab would say "hey thats price improvement, what are you complaining about". I then called schwab and kept a service rep on the phone for 15 minutes making him listen to me complain how the company he works for lies and he may want to think about that the next time he doesn't get what they promised him. I wish everyone would call schwab today to complain. Then some of their real customers may actually get mad because they couldn't get through. I can not see any way to active trade on this platform, and even a swing trader is going to pay more when their trade works and only get their proper fill when it goes against them. Schwab is all about Lose/lose for the client.