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Gold/Mining/Energy : Day trading in Canada -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: triplehrw who wrote (2666)	3/28/1999 6:10:00 PM
From: IdiotJed	Respond to of 4467

Hugh, on an exchange your trade would have been executed at the bid price, like a market sell, not at $2.50. On the OTC (or even the NASDAQ), it could have been a problem. Your order was refused because most broker don't want the trouble to handle anything not in the money like too low bid or too high ask. But I'm surprised that they didn't execute your order. With that said, the most common mistake by those who trade many times a day is entering a buy when they want to sell or vice-versa, and that's impossible to verify by someone else. The only thing the "investment representative" watch in Canada is if the stock you buy or sell will keep your portfolio in check with your investment objective, everything else can be checked electronicaly. And since I stated my portfolio as "full speculative", I don't need that. <<but between a by and sell there should be at least a 2-4 hour gap>> And what if your investment start to tank just after you bought. Yuk! IJ

To: triplehrw who wrote (2666)	3/28/1999 7:17:00 PM
From: keith massey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4467

So I do think a trader should look at your trade before it is submitted I totally disagree with this statement. If people want/need every trade checked by a broker they should not be with a discount broker they should be with a full service broker. By using a discount broker we have taken the responsibility of trading into our own hands. As long as your account has the money to cover the trade it should be placed as fast as possible. We are paying are discount brokers to place trades not to hold our hands. As was pointed out earlier, the $2.50 offer would have hit the lowest bid and you would not have lost much if any. Little is really lost in a few minutes and a lot may be gained Again I disagree. A 1-2 minutes delay can cost you several hundreds or thousands of dollars in a fast moving market. I want fast execution not just for day trading but also for medium term holds. For example, you just heard that interest rates are being dropped 1/4 point in U.S/Canada on CNBC. You know the banks stocks are going to run for the next couple of days on the news (not a day trade). I guarentee that a 2 minute delay will results in you getting the stock for .50-.75 more than if there wasn't a delay. Or even worse, by the time your limit order gets to market they stock is higher than your price. You change your price, 2 minute delay, and now it is higher again. You end up chasing the stock which is never good. With a market order and a delay you can never be sure about the price you are getting in a fast market. I know the above case is true because it has happened to me the last two times Canada has lowered interest rates. Of course I didn't chase the stock but I ended up getting filled at a higher price both times. I figure the 1-2 minute delay cost me 1-2K in profits on those two trades alone. Of course I still made a nice profit on the trade but not as much as I should have. Its nice to have fast trades--but between a by and sell there should be at least a 2-4 hour gap. I am not sure about the logic behind this point. If bad news comes out or the stock starts to drop I want out and I want out now. However for the record I normally hold stocks for several hours and am not a minute by minute day trader. Best Regards KEITH