What happened today ?!

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roogy

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Hi, I'm fairly new to trading. Something happened today that i don't understand.
I had an open short trade on the Dow, it stood at -£4, then i noticed that the platform provider had changed the tabs on the mobile app platform to telephone instructions only. The next moment my trade went to £700+ . I immediately tried several times to call the provider to close the trade but the phone just rang and rang. Within a few minutes the trade reversed and stopped me out losing a significant sum. Ive called the provider who tried to explain that the market had been suspended (beyond their control) but unfortunately they couldn't get to all the calls due to the volume. Is this acceptable?. Im going to put in a formal complaint, its one thing to dictate that your only going to accept telephone instructions but then not to have the resources available to take those calls is something else. It feels to me like they may have just manipulated the situation to avoid anyone from being able to use their platform when it suited them.
 
roogy said:
Hi, I'm fairly new to trading. Something happened today that i don't understand.
I had an open short trade on the Dow, it stood at -£4, then i noticed that the platform provider had changed the tabs on the mobile app platform to telephone instructions only. The next moment my trade went to £700+ . I immediately tried several times to call the provider to close the trade but the phone just rang and rang. Within a few minutes the trade reversed and stopped me out losing a significant sum. Ive called the provider who tried to explain that the market had been suspended (beyond their control) but unfortunately they couldn't get to all the calls due to the volume. Is this acceptable?. Im going to put in a formal complaint, its one thing to dictate that your only going to accept telephone instructions but then not to have the resources available to take those calls is something else. It feels to me like they may have just manipulated the situation to avoid anyone from being able to use their platform when it suited them.
Click to expand...

Hi Roggy,
sorry to hear about your situation. Today was a rather unusual day with a huge amount of volatility. The trigger relates to the Chinese central bank's decision to devalue their currency recently, and also to the signs of slowing growth in China. This led to a large sell-off in all Asian markets overnight, which then continued into the London session, some key levels being hit (in equities and currencies) and by the time New York opened, several circuit-breakers had been imposed because of the high volatility.

Thus at the time that you placed the trader, it would have been very hard to get hold of your broker. I also noticed that some instruments on my platform (with FXCM) were difficult to execute, namely the DAX.

Yes, you should lodge a complaint and see what you can achieve. But you might not be overly lucky and just be stuck with the loss that you incurred. Unfortunately this is what can happen when you trade the financial markets.

I stepped back and closed my positions when the market become very volatile, but I was sitting in front of my screens all day so was aware of what was going on. It's unfortunate that maybe you were unaware of the market's high volatility at the time you placed the trade.

It was an usual day. (the opening gap in the S&P was the largest since the gap in 2008 when Lehmans had collapsed)
 
roogy said:
Hi, I'm fairly new to trading. Something happened today that i don't understand.
I had an open short trade on the Dow, it stood at -£4, then i noticed that the platform provider had changed the tabs on the mobile app platform to telephone instructions only. The next moment my trade went to £700+ . I immediately tried several times to call the provider to close the trade but the phone just rang and rang. Within a few minutes the trade reversed and stopped me out losing a significant sum. Ive called the provider who tried to explain that the market had been suspended (beyond their control) but unfortunately they couldn't get to all the calls due to the volume. Is this acceptable?. Im going to put in a formal complaint, its one thing to dictate that your only going to accept telephone instructions but then not to have the resources available to take those calls is something else. It feels to me like they may have just manipulated the situation to avoid anyone from being able to use their platform when it suited them.
Click to expand...



How much do you have in your account, and what position size were you using?

I was using a 50 point stop on the Dax today
 
roogy said:
Hi, I'm fairly new to trading. Something happened today that i don't understand.
I had an open short trade on the Dow, it stood at -£4, then i noticed that the platform provider had changed the tabs on the mobile app platform to telephone instructions only. The next moment my trade went to £700+ . I immediately tried several times to call the provider to close the trade but the phone just rang and rang. Within a few minutes the trade reversed and stopped me out losing a significant sum. Ive called the provider who tried to explain that the market had been suspended (beyond their control) but unfortunately they couldn't get to all the calls due to the volume. Is this acceptable?. Im going to put in a formal complaint, its one thing to dictate that your only going to accept telephone instructions but then not to have the resources available to take those calls is something else. It feels to me like they may have just manipulated the situation to avoid anyone from being able to use their platform when it suited them.
Click to expand...

Very frustrating when brokers do this. Trading was suspended a few times today when it was getting very volatile. Sorry to hear you got caught on the bad side of it.

I am surprised you did though, on my broker, from memory it was suspended twice for around 10 minutes at a time. Both times it opened lower than it was so it must be your broker stopping internet orders that caused this.

I would definitely speak to them. Or maybe consider a different broker?
 
Definitely complain but definitely don't expect too much, its what they do to manage their risk. What can you do to manage yours, assuming you're not wiped out / too discouraged to carry on? -

* open a small second account with another firm as a back-up - if things go sour with one firm in a hurry, you may be able to place a trade with the other that will protect your profits / limit your losses

* set limit orders and stops when volatility might be an issue - every day basically

* sit out in cash through unusual volatility, and wait for good old trends to show themselves: basically, if markets are headlined on mainstream breakfast news, bad things are happening in the world

* don't be afraid to close early and bank profits

* consider closing positions for overnight and over weekends

* trade with only the largets and most reputable firms: never touch anyone based in the British Mackerel Islands or Uzbek Cyprus.
 
tomorton said:
Definitely complain but definitely don't expect too much, its what they do to manage their risk. What can you do to manage yours, assuming you're not wiped out / too discouraged to carry on? -

* open a small second account with another firm as a back-up - if things go sour with one firm in a hurry, you may be able to place a trade with the other that will protect your profits / limit your losses

* set limit orders and stops when volatility might be an issue - every day basically

* sit out in cash through unusual volatility, and wait for good old trends to show themselves: basically, if markets are headlined on mainstream breakfast news, bad things are happening in the world

* don't be afraid to close early and bank profits

* consider closing positions for overnight and over weekends

* trade with only the largets and most reputable firms: never touch anyone based in the British Mackerel Islands or Uzbek Cyprus.
Click to expand...

Sound advice. Anyone trading a weekly or daily interval would have been out early Friday. Anyone else should have been in cash or daytrading.
 
Yesterday was full of volatility, DJIA dropped 1000 points only to regain about half of it a few seconds later. So no wonder your broker couldn't do anything. After the even they are only doing their dance trying to dodge every bullet. I hope you achieve something with the complaint!
 
roogy, you were made for days like yesterday. The game wasn't built to make you wealthy.
 
Jason Rogers said:
Hi George,

If you had any issues executing a GER30 (DAX) order through FXCM, please use this online form to file a trade inquiry: http://bit.ly/1lQlJ7Z

The Trade Services Team will then be able to review your case and follow up with a resolution.
Click to expand...

Many thanks Roger. I was not looking to open a trade, but I had noticed that the DAX price on my Marketscope 2.0 had stopped moving shortly after the volatility really increased, around 13:11pm GMT on Monday.
 
A trading colleague of mine actually had a similar experience on Monday. He was long GBPNZD on a swing trade and when he noticed that the pair was rallying hundreds of pips in a single 15M candle he tried to close it right away, but his platform was not responding for that currency pair.

(GBPNZD rose and fell around 1,300 pips in the course of two 15M candles. And who says this kind of stuff never happens!!).

Incidentally he was also trading with FXCM. So Jason Rogers, I have passed your instructions onto him to help him deal with the issue - thanks in advance.

I am sure there are quite a few stories of this nature, and across all brokers!!
 
options-george said:
A trading colleague of mine actually had a similar experience on Monday. He was long GBPNZD on a swing trade and when he noticed that the pair was rallying hundreds of pips in a single 15M candle he tried to close it right away, but his platform was not responding for that currency pair.

(GBPNZD rose and fell around 1,300 pips in the course of two 15M candles. And who says this kind of stuff never happens!!).

Incidentally he was also trading with FXCM. So Jason Rogers, I have passed your instructions onto him to help him deal with the issue - thanks in advance.

I am sure there are quite a few stories of this nature, and across all brokers!!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it's all in the Terms and Conditions.
 
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