Just when I thought it was safe to trade with Web Street...
I had two accounts with WS. One a very active trading account and the other an infrequently traded IRA. About 4 months ago I became so fed up with Web Street's incompetence and transferred my trading account to another brokerage firm.
Yesterday, I attempted to use my IRA account again. I placed a limit order at the bid and hoped I would get it. I was curious about how long it would take for the order to show up on the level 2 screen so I timed it. It took about 20 seconds. Ask a day trader how long 20 seconds is. I assure you, it is an eternity.
There were a couple of transactions at my price, but since Web Street always seems to be the last market maker to be filled, I didn't get the stock. This was unfortunate because the stock then proceeded to go up 2 points.
After a couple of hours I decided to go ahead and cancel the order. I hit the cancel button and got the "Cancel Pending" message. I waited a half hour and still no cancellation. I called customer support and complained. I was told that the clearing house sometimes gets lazy about cancellations and he would contact them. Another 15 minutes went by and still no cancelled order. I called again and this time someone did something about it.
I was fortunate this time. The stock I placed an order for went up and stayed above my offer. I had several occasions with my Web Street trading account where I placed a limit order at the ask, received no confirmation, did not know whether it was filled or not, saw the stock moving down, tried to cancel, got the "cancel pending" message, waited 15 or 20 minutes and then was told that I got the fill at my limit price now that the stock was 3/8 of a point lower than my offer.
As a point of reference my new broker, Polar Trading, takes 1 second to post an order, 2 seconds to give you a cancellation and you know immediately when your order is filled. Unfortunately they are mainly a day trading firm and do not handle IRA accounts.
I wish good luck to all of you still using Web Street and caution anyone considering opening an account there. I will be moving my IRA account this week. |
