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Morgan,
I agree fully with everything you've said. And I continue to insist that all online trading is subject to "technical" problems. It obviously doesn't have to be a heavy volume day. Any time, any day. One never knows.
Knowing that, there is absolutely no way we can trade high risk stocks using large amounts of capital. Like they say in the adds, "use only risk capital." That means, capital you can afford to lose. Which is ridiculous, I know. No one can afford (or wants) to lose any capital. Yet we do.
So, I offer that online daytrading holds super high risk for all of us. Maybe not all day, maybe not every day. But it's there. You saw it today. I've seen it many times. And I am sure others have seen it on occasion, too. Some often, some rarely.
Let me ask you this: If you knew that you were going to have a traffic accident at least once a week (or once a day - pick a time frame), would you get on the interstate highway and drive? If you really knew you would have an accident? No, you wouldn't. Especially if you knew it would be a major accident.
Or, maybe you would drive slower, stay on certain type roads, off major highways, not drive in the rain or snow, maybe avoid nighttime driving, whatever you could do to minimize risk. But, knowing you would have a major accident at least once a week, no one would drive on the highway. No one.
So, why expose yourself similarly with online trading? The brokers cannot guarantee anything. They don't and they can't. They may imply certain things, but they don't often use the word "guarantee." And all those television commercials are very misleading, should be prohibited. Ameritrade could use virtually the same ad to sell cocaine. With that same dude, too!
I do believe, however, that a good broker would provide enough phone support and technical support to handle these things, and, like I said, allowing "real" stop orders and real limit GTC orders would allow the trader/client to use some minimal means of protection when things go wrong.
People often compare online trading to gambling in a casino, and for good reason. Considering all that can and does go wrong, how else could one adequately describe putting so much money at risk? Yes, the accounts are termed "speculative" for a very good and obvious reason.
Bill |
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