Bid /Ask Spreads - Market Manipulation Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Bid /Ask Spreads - Market Manipulation

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Cyprian who wrote (77)	9/18/1996 11:19:00 PM
From: Jeff Gibbons	of 308

Something else you should know about schwab. I have been using e.Schwab for the last 4 or 5 months. Over the last couple of weeks, I have had a number of orders sit unfilled for several minutes either as market orders or limit orders to buy at the ask with the ask not moving the first few minutes, including a market order to buy MSFT. In one case, I tried to buy FORE at 39 1/4 and it did not execute for 5 minutes. The ask remained at 39 1/4 and all of 6 trades were made on the stock in the 5 minute period so it wasn't too fast a market in the stock. I watched all the market makers and each and every trade in the stock. I called schwab to complain and 2 different brokers there told me that e.Schwab accounts are cash up front accounts meaning the money must be in the account or within margin limits before they will execute the trade. Because of this, 50% of e.Schwab orders are selected for manual review ie by a person to verify the cash is there. This can slow down the order substantially. The Schwab brokers said that Schwab considers any order executed within 5 minutes to be sufficiently timely. Well I don't. I don't mind the cash up front. I just want the execution as fast as possible at the best available price. I pointed out that any person reviewing the account is just going to ask a computer what cash is on hand and the computer could do that better and faster. But the response is that there might be special notes or conditions on the account that the computer does not understand. Being a software engineer, I find this excuse incredibly lame. Because of these poor executions, I missed several very profitable trades. Consequently, I am leaving Schwab and recommend others consider the impact of this policy on their trading patterns.

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next