There has been a lot of discussion of certain trades involving limit orders. We have been investigating the circumstances and we apologize for not having posted any remarks sooner.
In the first case, Snowy's order, we sincerely apologize for not getting back to you immediately to tell you that we were looking into the situation. Actually, we did not have a response right away because it appears that Snowy had confused two orders and their respective dates.
Of the many nonmarketable orders that Snowy placed around the time in question, these two orders seem closest to the ones he described:
On June 30, at 10:53:19 P.M. E.T., he tried to sell 500 RXSD at 40 3/4 Limit. The highest trade of July 1 was at $38 ¬.
On June 27, at 7:16:38 A.M. E.T., he tried to sell 500 RXSD @ 38 5/8 Limit. The highest trade of the day was at $38.
These orders were not marketable and were not executed. Unfortunately, we could not identify these orders immediately because each order had the other's date.
In another posting, Michael Abrams inquired after two orders in AMD entered on July 1. The first order was to buy 500 shares with a limit of 35 when the inside market was 35 by 35 1/4. Apparently, the stock moved after you last checked the quotes and before you placed the order. This was not a marketable order so it was immediately sent to the NYSE to be included in the specialist's limit book. The second order was to buy 500 shares at 35 1/8. The entry time was 10:32:18 and the inside market was 35 by 35 1/8. This order was executed 37 seconds later at the limit price. Shortly thereafter, you tried to cancel the order but you were unable to as it had already filled.
Again, we apologize for not responding more quickly. You deserve a fast and accurate response. We are aggressively hiring more operations and customer support personnel to give you excellent customer service.
Finally, as Jon Tara points out, please understand that limit orders only become marketable once they are equal to or greater than the ask if they are buys, or, if they are sells, they are less equal to or less than the bid. Even 1/16 discrepancy represents a disgreement and your order might not be filled. For example, if you wish to buy for 1/16 less than the ask you might not ever get an execution.
One note for the future. We will be putting tracking numbers on the browser when we confirm your entry of an order. We had not thought to give this information and it is an excellent idea.
Thank you again for pointing out these situations. The comments on this thread are invaluable.
We hope you had a wonderful holiday.
Jon Normile
Registered Representative |
