This is a disaster trying to get assistance. They gave me an erroneous option assignment and they’re also taking hours to send acknowledge and send a wire out. What the hell? side note was considering opening portfolio margin there. Rethinking that big time.
Well, don't go with IBKR. It took them almost two weeks to permission options. I've had an account at IBKR since 1998. RegT, margin, marginIRA and PM.
This morning on Schwab, we got an order filled, but the positions screen was not updated. It finally updated after four or five minutes. This has been happening for over a month now. Not all the time, of course. The last time I tried to report it, they told me to clear the cache on my PC. Of course that doesn't resolve the problem, because the problem is not on my PC. It's on their server. When it's working properly, I never have to clear my cache. All I have to do is refresh the screen. This morning when I started a live chat, hoping to report the problem again, the wait time for a live chat rep was 60-65 minutes. I may be naive, but someone should start a movement among retail traders for some minimum standards for customer service and platform uptime. I'm talking about standards that would have some regulatory teeth in them. Kind of like the airline traveler's bill of rights, where airlines can be fined if they keep passengers waiting too long on the tarmac. And passengers have certain rights if they get bumped from a flight due to overbooking. Is there even an nongovernmental organization that lobbies for, or claims to represent, the interests of retail traders and investors? There is something called American Association of Individual Investors, but I don't know if they engage in any kind of advocacy. BMK
Tell you one thing. Say what you will about features and visuals but Fido would never do this. They don’t route for cash, they answer the phone and money moves when you ask it to.
I haven’t used them in a year since I got involved more heavily with options. They have a Java based active trading platform that probably hasn’t been updated since Clinton was in office. It’ll do the job but it’s not going to impress you or serve the needs of someone who trades like you do. with that said - the pipes themselves are excellent. To my understanding they try to match you internally and then they have an algorithm that looks to get you filled the best way possible with no bias because they don’t sell flow. They even keep a running tab of how much they’re saving you inside the spread on options and shares in bottom line money. Also cheapest margin outside of IBKR. I had no trouble getting filled or quoted during covid, always got my call answered and money always moved when asked. If you can structure using a different platform you’ll be happy with them. as of this writing, I’ll probably keep a couple bucks to mess around in forex at td and get access to ToS and I think I’m going to take my major stake back to Fido. It may be biased, I’ve been with them since I started working but they’re always reliable. https://www.fidelity.com/trading/execution-quality/overview
I am not going to mince words with you. You know that with the pandemic brokerage firms are working remotely which obviously causes time delays. Secondly reports are sometimes delayed from the venues where they are executed. Serious firms like Schwab, Interactive Brokers and Apex Clearing do a good job. Asking for gov't regulation says clearly you are not an active trader. I have read previous posts of yours. Many of them sound like Amazon customers who downgrade products to 1 star when they when are to suppose to consist of 50 nails but only has 49nails.