Warning: Daytraders with Comsuck

[shadders]

I trade with a margin account so I'm not sure if this a problem for regular account holders but I just found out that if you buy a stock on one day you can't sell it again unless you place the order by phone.

The exact scenario was as follows... Bought some AGS yesterday and tried to place a stop loss conditional order. It failed telling me I didn't have the securities (which my holdings screen said I did). So rang comsuck ML and they said I couldn't place the cond. order online until the next day and they would place it for me manually. Today I bought some more AGS and went to update my stoploss order to reflect the new amount. Same problem. I rang an had the order updated.

Then not long after the stoploss triggered... I sighed in resignation then went to check what price I got... Order failed to execute. Tried to sell manually. Wouldn't let me. Tried to sell just the amount I bought yesterday... wouldn't let me. Rang comsuck in right nasty huff and demanded an explanation. Apparently there are two known issues.

1/ Can't place conditional trades on stocks you have bought until the next day.

2/ Can't sell stocks you have bought that day! You have to ring them, wait god knows how long on the phone, then wait for them figure out what's going on before you can place your order....

Apparently these are known issues and they are 'working on them'. They wouldn't give me an ETA. Wouldn't give me any recourse for updates i.e. a reference number for the issue so I can ring and check later if it's been fixed.

The only good thing that came out of it is that while I was waiting on hold the price rebounded well past my stoploss so I got to keep the stock for now...

I've just wasted a great deal of time and effort migrating all of trading to comsuck so I could become more active in daytrading... turns out it's completely useless for it now... until they fix this problem at least...

Has anyone with a CDIA account encountered these problems?

may have to open one and trade with that as a short term solution...

BTW IMHO comsuck are the WORST organisation I have ever dealt for customer service... utterly hopeless and most of their call centre staff are clueless... not their fault... it's the monkey managers that think they are running a business...

 

[constable]

just check but i think there is a comsec slag off thread going already! just do a search to find it!

 

[Snakey]

just check but i think there is a comsec slag off thread going already! just do a search to find it!

yes im with westpus and they're not much better than comsuck
constantly returning cancelled orders
i want to sell at any cost....share price 3.30 and falling fast so i set sell price at 3.00 westpus return trade failed because overlaps market price too much
price now 3.20 so i put sell order in at 3.15 ....order partially filled so then must amend order down to 3.10.....very very frustrating and expensive stupid westpus
if the first order had filled it would of traded at 3.24

 

[MalteseBull]

you must be a kiwi?

 

[x2rider]

Why is that Maltese? Because we don't like crap service. And complain when we get it?
Cheers martin

 

[Snakey]

you must be a kiwi?

are you talking to me bro?
ive had sux bourbons and now i fill like a but ov sheep action ay

 

[constable]

are you talking to me bro?
ive had sux bourbons and now i fill like a but ov sheep action ehh

lol

 

[Robroy]

I had these exact problems with CommSec a year or more ago.

They were 'working on them' then.

I have a CDIA and margin loan account.

Their system has other bugs too - e.g. if you want to amend your volume (the amount you want to buy or sell) you have to amend the original amount, not the balance. So if you have bought 50,000 of your 100,000 order but now decide you want to buy an extra 20,000, you don't change the 50,000 balance to 70,000, you change it to 120,000. Quite illogical, and no warning given - so you can find yourself thinking you have increased your order when you've in fact just decreased it.

The other increasing problem with CS is their phone queues - very long presently. If you're calling from overseas a lot as I am - a nightmare.

I personally find the help people pretty knowledgeable (there's always the occasional exception), and I have probably phoned them once a week and emailed them 3 times a week for 4-5 years.

If you want incompetent, trade CFDs with ETrade. They have one (sic.) guy who understands them, and if he's not there you find yourself explaining what a CFD is to the person who is meant to be advising you. (No exaggeration.)

I will stick with ETrade for this year because I'm not a big CFD trader - too much hassle to move. But after that (unless they improve) I'll be looking for a new broker.

 

[shadders]

well I'm looking for another broker now that I know I effectively can't intraday trade with comsec (after a HUGE hassle of a process to change over to them).

Do you have any problems with etrade margin lending getting access to funds to buy straight after you sell? Or any other similar problems like I described above?

I don't trade CFD's at the moment so that's not really a consideration...

 

[Robroy]

I don't trade stocks or have a margin account with ETrade, so can't comment on that.

One assumes their stock trading facilities are better than their CFD ones.

The cheapest broker I have found by far, BTW, is Morrison Securities:

They have webIRESS which is expensive (and a nightmare to operate IMO - I used it with ETrade for a while, before reverting to phone); plus a basic service - htmlRRESS - which seems cheap to me:

1. Transaction Value
Brokerage (ex GST)
$0.01 - $49,999.99
$20.00
$50,000.00 - $99,999.99
$40.00
$100,000.00 +
0.05%

That last one is a doosie.

They are a smaller broker tho, so I'm not sure how good they are in other respects.

My plan is to open a smallish acccount with them at the end of the year and give them a trial. Then swing everything their way if they perform.

 

[mmmmining]

I trade with a margin account ....
Bought some AGS yesterday and tried to place a stop loss conditional order.

First of all, is AGS marginable?

Secondly, I have no problem with Commsec.

 

[malachii]

Not commenting on problems with comsec as I have had them in the past but I trade the same parcel of shares intraday and next day and have no problem with buying/selling over the internet. However I DONT have a margin account - dont know if this makes any differerence.

 

[dj_420]

is anyone else having problems with comsec?

seems that market depth is not up to date and changes between showing yesterdays close prices and this mornings open depth.

orders that are placed are not showing up?

anyone else experiencing these problems?

 

[shadders]

Robroy,

Can elaborate on the issues you've had with etrade CFD's? Is it mainly the understanding of the support staff or does the platform itself cause problem in your trading?

cheers

 

[stevo]

I would suggest that you have to factor in the abilities of the broker when you design a system. A little bit of slippage and many shorter term systems tend to fall apart.

I am not a daytrader but have been with Comsec since they took over TD Waterhouse. They are better than previous brokers I have had (I have had at least 4 mainly due to M&A activity).

It's easy to blame the broker!

 

[investforwealth]

I trade with a margin account so I'm not sure if this a problem for regular account holders but I just found out that if you buy a stock on one day you can't sell it again unless you place the order by phone.

I've been with CommSec for a bit over a month, and so far haven't experienced this problem. I have a CDIA account and have been able to buy and sell the same stock within the same day. I'm guessing that perhaps you're right about the problem being specific to margin accounts, unless of course the unthinkable has happened and they've actually fixed the problem.

I pay for the Professional Trader platform and have however had a few problems with that. Nothing too major, it just refuses to keep my layout when I close it. This means that I have to setup the window layout each time I log on. The problem actually seems worse since it downloaded "update" files late last week. I've emailed them to complain, but had no respose as yet. Considering sending them an invoice for my time -- about 30 minutes a week should cover the time it takes me to setup the workspace each time I run the software.

 

[Mousie]

Hey peeps,

I'm not able to read announcements on Comsec yesterday night and this morning. The new announcement window is titled "The page cannot be displayed". Anyone having the same problem? Anyone knows why?

 

[Gutterboy]

G'day,
I have the same problem with "professional" trader.
Every morning I have to reset my worksheet and half of the time I cannot access announcements. I get sick of having to go to the asx website to access announcements.
I guess i'm just not "professional" enough.
Seeyas