Shares sold early? Broker error!

[larrylocal]

Just wondering if anyone has had a limit order sold early (at a much lower price) when using an online broker platform? I had this experience recently and am wondering how common this is?

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Do you have a screenshot of your order entry?

gg

 

[larrylocal]

Do you have a screenshot of your order entry?

gg

Yes. even the order ticket states the higher price I set the limit sell to but it was sold at a significantly lower price.
The broker is looking into it. It appears to be a technical issue. I'm asking to see how common this is?

 

[divs4ever]

Yes. even the order ticket states the higher price I set the limit sell to but it was sold at a significantly lower price.
The broker is looking into it. It appears to be a technical issue. I'm asking to see how common this is?

only once that i can remember , but it was hard to pin the blame sorely on the broker/platform .. the ISP was having a BAD day as was the ASX itself and i was rushing in a frequently stop/start scenario ( in fact from memory the confirmation note took nearly all day to arrive , electronically via the broker/platform ( NOT via email .. so i can't blame the email server that time )

what quite often happens ( to me ) is that i BUY well below the order price when in a rapidly falling market ( which is why i strongly prefer to buy the DOWNTREND rather than fish for the bottom )

by the way the ASX often has issues in the market operation ( but then it is handling millions of trades a day , so you can only hope they will be perfect , not expect it )

 

[larrylocal]

only once that i can remember , but it was hard to pin the blame sorely on the broker/platform .. the ISP was having a BAD day as was the ASX itself and i was rushing in a frequently stop/start scenario ( in fact from memory the confirmation note took nearly all day to arrive , electronically via the broker/platform ( NOT via email .. so i can't blame the email server that time )

what quite often happens ( to me ) is that i BUY well below the order price when in a rapidly falling market ( which is why i strongly prefer to buy the DOWNTREND rather than fish for the bottom )

by the way the ASX often has issues in the market operation ( but then it is handling millions of trades a day , so you can only hope they will be perfect , not expect it )

I see.. This one was definitely a broker error though. The booking confirmation definitely says the higher price but when I looked at it they had sold all of that stock significantly below my limit sell price. Pretty significant error really. Hoping to have the broker determine its cause and hopefully they can compensate me for what I lost as a result. The amount was quiet significant.

 

[eskys]

Was thinking what happened to BGA's trading when it plunged dramatically this morning. Big gaps in price at open....lowest price was 4.71. Something wrong with the platform at Commsec??? Or is it just volatility?

10:00:21 AM	4.780	164	783.920	CXA
10:00:20 AM	4.810	248	1,192.880	ASX
10:00:20 AM	4.810	23	110.630	ASX
10:00:20 AM	4.710	308	1,450.680	ASX
10:00:20 AM	4.765	42	200.130	ASX

 

[divs4ever]

check out BHP ( course of sales ) between 10.00.10 and 10.00.25 am

not as remarkable gaps , but similar

now sure some is a divergence between the ASX and CXA but 3 to 4 cents at almost the same moment

might be some sort of data feed issues going on

 

[larrylocal]

check out BHP ( course of sales ) between 10.00.10 and 10.00.25 am

not as remarkable gaps , but similar

now sure some is a divergence between the ASX and CXA but 3 to 4 cents at almost the same moment

might be some sort of data feed issues going on

I've completely lost you there.

 

[divs4ever]

well considering you are looking at trades made in roughly the same second , a share like BHP which has lots of orders in the market at open , the price moving around like that ( the market has been open for 10 to 20 seconds so the auction should have filled all the eccentric orders by then in the auction ) so one might suspect they are orders delayed in reaching the ASX and CXA

 

[larrylocal]

I might have worded the point incorrectly. To give you an example, I had a limit sell set at $1.50 but all my trades sold at $1.20 for no reason? I never set that price and it was an all or nothing trade. Broker / technical error. Never heard of this happening before.
It even shows on my order ticket that I had a limit sell order in at $1.50.

 

[divs4ever]

well , broker or computer error look probable in your case

when i made my error it was a little hectic and i couldn't guarantee i ticked the 'at market price ' box by mistake ( despite filling in a fixed price ) all i know was it the order was filled instantly when i had expected to have to wait ten minutes or more ) ( and at a lower price than planned )


i hope you resolve your issue

i couldn't protest much , because i couldn't be absolutely certain i hadn't been part of the error event ( 'fat finger if you like )

BTW sometimes brokers DO make errors
but that is a different story ( and a broker using Dow Jones for their news feed for order placing )

 

[larrylocal]

well , broker or computer error look probable in your case

when i made my error it was a little hectic and i couldn't guarantee i ticked the 'at market price ' box by mistake ( despite filling in a fixed price ) all i know was it the order was filled instantly when i had expected to have to wait ten minutes or more ) ( and at a lower price than planned )


i hope you resolve your issue

i couldn't protest much , because i couldn't be absolutely certain i hadn't been part of the error event ( 'fat finger if you like )

BTW sometimes brokers DO make errors
but that is a different story ( and a broker using Dow Jones for their news feed for order placing )

Yes, broker error agreed. An online broker too so I think others would have been affected.

 

[divs4ever]

well i wasn't today ( i only had buys in the market )

but maybe next week/month/year

now one thing just popped into my mind ... it didn't trigger an existing stop loss did it ( i never use stop losses )

a sudden drop can do that or even hurdle ( jump over a stop loss )

 

[qldfrog]

Yes, broker error agreed. An online broker too so I think others would have been affected.

Can you tell us who is the broker?
I have never had your experience but using saxo, i once got an alert telling me to free cash as i was under an under capitalised situation yet i had no options, share play etc when i could owe money of any sort.
This was on the US market so 1am i was back in my study selling all my portfolio while looking at a platform telling me i was owing hundreds of thousands increasing by thousands at each refresh..10s or do
A nightmare i do not wish on anyone
When all shares and options were sold everything stopped, my supposedly negative account in the 6 figures USD suddenly reverted to positive
I have never got any acknowledgement, explanation to my print screens and ongoing please explain queries
And i lost a bucket :
selling at all cost a whole portfolio is not a profit maker
I have never played any options with them since.
I also learnt this year that Saxo keeps pending buy order live even after trading halt....which cost me another 1.4k on SLV
It is time for me to stop using these guys

 

[qldfrog]

And to add:
I am nearly sure commsec use its own dark pool so you seem to never get the best price when you buy sell
Buy up to x rarely give you less than x
And sell at y or above..gives you y and very rarely above
Whereas my BellDirect accounts does gives me some good surprises from time to time
Just my experience

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I see.. This one was definitely a broker error though. The booking confirmation definitely says the higher price but when I looked at it they had sold all of that stock significantly below my limit sell price. Pretty significant error really. Hoping to have the broker determine its cause and hopefully they can compensate me for what I lost as a result. The amount was quiet significant.

I'd still like to see a screenshot of your order, I'm not doubting you. Perhaps if you could photoshop your details out of the screenshot. If not, no worries.

I only say that because in limit trading on NVDA last year I inadvertently went short, for a few minutes, on about $USD 45,000 worth of NVidia when they were steaming bullish last year. I never short. Luckily I saw my mistake in the orders and bought them back for a small profit believe it or not. I looked back and could not see how I'd done it. I checked with IKBR and they could not explain it neither.

Let us know the outcome anyway. Best for your trading and if you have time start a "LIMITS" thread in the Trading forum as it is an interesting experience you have related.

gg

 

[larrylocal]

I'd still like to see a screenshot of your order, I'm not doubting you. Perhaps if you could photoshop your details out of the screenshot. If not, no worries.

I only say that because in limit trading on NVDA last year I inadvertently went short, for a few minutes, on about $USD 45,000 worth of NVidia when they were steaming bullish last year. I never short. Luckily I saw my mistake in the orders and bought them back for a small profit believe it or not. I looked back and could not see how I'd done it. I checked with IKBR and they could not explain it neither.

Let us know the outcome anyway. Best for your trading and if you have time start a "LIMITS" thread in the Trading forum as it is an interesting experience you have related.

gg

Thanks but I won't be uploading broker tickets or anything like that. You'll have to take my word for it. I set a limit sell order and all of that stock was sold significantly earlier. As a result I lost money. Not going to dizz the broker just yet. Will wait to hear what they say. I just put this up to see if anyone else had had a similar experience in the past. It might have been a common problem that happens from time to time.

 

[JohnDe]

Thanks but I won't be uploading broker tickets or anything like that. You'll have to take my word for it. I set a limit sell order and all of that stock was sold significantly earlier. As a result I lost money. Not going to dizz the broker just yet. Will wait to hear what they say. I just put this up to see if anyone else had had a similar experience in the past. It might have been a common problem that happens from time to time.

You can blank the name and important numbers.

 

[larrylocal]

You can blank the name and important numbers.

I'm sure you all have the best intentions there but you'll have to trust my judgement on this one. The broker in question has even acknowledged that this shouldn't have happened.

 

[peter2]

If the broker has acknowledged the error then they'll resolve it. You can only hope for a fair settlement. Overall, brokers don't make many errors but their clients do.

Some online orders trigger a market order and this can result in huge slippage especially on a day like today (strong selloff). I assume this didn't happen in your case.