>> BCE options on FEB 9
Lloyd asked about a 20-lot offer in the book that was missed. I think I actually remember this. I always put what for want of a better term is a 'hard marker' in the book for anything over a board-lot (10 contracts in BCE's case). This marker prevents the series from rotating through an offer, and should have alerted us to your offer as the stock rallied. I remember being shocked when the trader came out to cancel the order because as you indicated the series was quoted about a dollar higher. I do not know what happened to the offer, but I will say that as the exchange winds down, we are left with fewer and less experienced operators, one of whom may have been working on my post at the time. I'm not saying I'm perfect, nor am I blaming one of them, but I know how I run my book. Anyway, your trader had the right to 'claim' a fill at the prevailing market...in fact, you have until the close of business the next trading day to claim. When your trader stated his wish to cancel the order rather than to claim, I stated to him "nothing done" and he confirmed "nothing done" which removed any obligation from either side...you didn't have to sell, and we didn't have to buy. I certainly hope you later sold them higher, if that was your intention, but somehow your asking this question makes me doubt it. Hope I'm wrong.
Mistakes do happen and are an unavoidable consequence of tremendously busy markets and overloaded, archaic systems. There are avenues of recourse available to the public, however, and if your broker did not advise you of your rights, I'm sorry. Canceling your order instead of claiming or even 'querying status' removed those rights, and you should have been so informed beforehand.
Happy trading.
Porter
E&OE |
