Damned Waterhouse!!
Sorry for the profanity, but I'm ticked off! Here's why:
Today I made a killing on WAST, but god only knows how much more I could have made if Waterhouse hadn't suddenly started interfering with my trades. I traded in and out of WAST several times today and yesterday for a handsome profit (about $1500 yesterday and $1500 today), but suddenly today, Waterhouse's WebBroker started sending back these messages on my orders:
"ORDER CONFIRMATION
Your order number: XXX NNNN
Please be advised that your order has been
sent to an account officer for further review
and will be considered pending until
approved by a Waterhouse representative."
The orders just sat there for 5 minutes waiting for approval..and they were market orders! I was trying to buy several thousand shares of WAST, and while I waited for the orders to be approved the stock rose by ~1/4! I missed out on about well over $2000!!
This has happened in the past, but never at so critical a moment during my daytrading. When it happened to me a few weeks ago, I called to complain. They replied that whenever there are more than 10 trades in one day, the subsequent orders must be reviewed and approved "by hand" by a Waterhouse broker before they are submitted to the market. They also told me that the process should take no longer than a few seconds. Well, today it happened to me at least 4 times, and each time I finally had to cancel the order. I finally got so perturbed, I cashed out my entire postion...but the order wouldn't go through!!! They gave me the same baloney about having to wait for approval! (Not for execution, but for approval...in other words, the order was "pending" until they got someone to approve it by hand before sending it on to the market!) I finally had to call a live broker to sell off.
Then I waited several minutes and collected my composure, then I tried making a few more tiny market orders just to test the system. Same result: "Order Pending." !!
I tell you, I am really irked. I'm going to look for another company. Waterhouse is going to lose the commissions on the hundreds of orders I place in a year. |
