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Buying stocks online - how fast does your order get filled?

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  • Apr 20th, 2005 11:40 pm
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Deal Addict
Jul 21, 2001
4327 posts
437 upvotes
Calgary

Buying stocks online - how fast does your order get filled?

I'm with Action Direct and I find that my orders take quite long to fill. Say a market order of 3500 shares it'll show 500 filled the same day as the order, and the other 3000 is split as two 1500 shares and would show as part filled and doesn't get show as being filled til the next business day. Yet all of it shows the same purchase price per share?? Is that slow or what for a market order? It seems like they lock in the buy price but take forever to complete the order.

And there stock quotes are delayed 20 minutes, how does this compare to other retail banking institutions investment arm?
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Deal Addict
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Jan 31, 2004
1401 posts
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Mount Hope, ON
Depends on what shares you are trading. I'm with TD Waterhouse and my trades at market price have all been executed within minutes.

If you're trading 50% of the days average volume for aparticular issue, you might expect some delays. Otherwise ... .. . there's somethign weird.
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Deal Addict
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Mar 25, 2002
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Depends on what exchange you're trading off of. Sometimes the orders fill right away, but the reporting process is a bit behind.

I'm with BMO, and the orders on mainstream exchanges (TSX, NYSE, Nasdaq) get filled in seconds. Sometimes I notice that trades in the RRSP account take longer because they need to verify account funds before trading (as no margin is allowed).
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Jul 20, 2002
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plucky duck wrote:I'm with Action Direct and I find that my orders take quite long to fill. Say a market order of 3500 shares it'll show 500 filled the same day as the order, and the other 3000 is split as two 1500 shares and would show as part filled and doesn't get show as being filled til the next business day. Yet all of it shows the same purchase price per share?? Is that slow or what for a market order? It seems like they lock in the buy price but take forever to complete the order.

And there stock quotes are delayed 20 minutes, how does this compare to other retail banking institutions investment arm?
I use both TD Waterhouse and Etrade and Market Orders usually fills within seconds, although I don't know why you want to use them. You can be seriously raped in a fast market.

I have never used Action Direct, but I can't believe they don't provide you with real time quotes. How can you trade in that enviroment?
Deal Addict
Jul 21, 2001
4327 posts
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Calgary
I'm talking about stocks listed on the TSX with average of 2 million volumes per day at market price. Yes it is within an RSP using cash in the account (money sitting there for more than a week already). Thinking of it, it takes almost as long when I had it outside of an RRSP.

Would trading by phone be any quicker for those who've used that service? The commission is slightly higher.

I guess this is why people have been moaning and groaning about AD and crying lawsuit on the RY stockhouse forum.

The only reason why I've stuck with AD and haven't went elsewhere is that I don't pay the annual fee and don't do enough trades to really benefit from a lower per trade commission cost.
Deal Addict
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Jul 20, 2002
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plucky duck wrote:I'm talking about stocks listed on the TSX with average of 2 million volumes per day at market price. Yes it is within an RSP using cash in the account (money sitting there for more than a week already). Thinking of it, it takes almost as long when I had it outside of an RRSP.

Would trading by phone be any quicker for those who've used that service? The commission is slightly higher.

I guess this is why people have been moaning and groaning about AD and crying lawsuit on the RY stockhouse forum.

The only reason why I've stuck with AD and haven't went elsewhere is that I don't pay the annual fee and don't do enough trades to really benefit from a lower per trade commission cost.
Whether your funds are in a RRSP account or not shouldn't make any difference in the execution of the trade. Filling 3500 shares in a stock with 2M daily volume is trivial. I suspect your broker is just trying to work the order to make a few buck on spread. That's why I don't use Market Order. I recommend putting in a Fill or Kill Limit Day Order at the bid price and wait for the market to come to you.
Deal Addict
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Jan 31, 2004
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Mount Hope, ON
(picking jaw up off the floor)

I don't care how much your saving on fees, you have potential to lose it big time on stock movements when they are taking that long to execute "normal" trades.

I'm an average low volume investor with a few hunderd k in the RRSPs and TD Waterhouse has been great for me.
There are two types of people in the world,
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Deal Addict
Jul 21, 2001
4327 posts
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Calgary
advantage21 wrote:Whether your funds are in a RRSP account or not shouldn't make any difference in the execution of the trade. Filling 3500 shares in a stock with 2M daily volume is trivial. I suspect your broker is just trying to work the order to make a few buck on spread. That's why I don't use Market Order. I recommend putting in a Fill or Kill Limit Day Order at the bid price and wait for the market to come to you.
Is that even legal to do??

At this point my portfolio is less than $10k and one of the main reasons for staying with AD is not the money I save from annual fee. I could care less about that. I'm with the RBC and that's the way I guess I can sort of keep an eye on things while I'm at work. Other site access is blocked. But with 20min delay between quotes I guess I've nothing to gain and more to lose in a volatile environment. Between the call and actual execution the price is off 0.005 to 0.01c on a 50c stock and that IS significant.

I would say I make about 4 - 8 trades in a year and just curious if I should even bother looking elsewhere. From the response it sounds like a resounding yes.

*picks up GreenWeenie's jaw and puts it back on his lap where it was originally* :razz:
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Mar 25, 2002
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plucky duck wrote: I would say I make about 4 - 8 trades in a year and just curious if I should even bother looking elsewhere. From the response it sounds like a resounding yes.
Absolutely. Mkt orders should get filled in seconds. Most of the time my mkt orders gets filled between the time I hit Submit and then Order Status.

Commission rates are almost the same between all of the major banks (give or take a few $$$). If one isn't giving you the service you expect, move.
Deal Addict
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Apr 30, 2003
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There are a few online brokers who don't charge annual fees. And getting real time quote and gets filled in a few seconds. (Of course depends what you're buying) Why don't you switch brokers?
Deal Addict
Jul 24, 2003
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robattoronto wrote:There are a few online brokers who don't charge annual fees. And getting real time quote and gets filled in a few seconds. (Of course depends what you're buying) Why don't you switch brokers?
such as who??

ive always wanted to find out... i tried google it, but gave me too much american sites
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Apr 30, 2003
2054 posts
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Lots of info in these sites below. I trade thru enorthern. Thats what I was referring to. Altho tradefreedom looks quite promising. Direct access brokers with level 2 quotes. I might signup thru them.

http://formeraboutguides.com/investingc ... rokers.htm
http://www.ndir.com/SI/brokers/discount.shtml
http://www.globeinvestor.com/series/bro ... index.html
http://www.stockbrokerguide.com/canadia ... rokers.php
http://www.interactivebrokers.ca
http://www.tradefreedom.com/

manho wrote:such as who??

ive always wanted to find out... i tried google it, but gave me too much american sites
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Jul 20, 2002
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manho wrote:such as who??

ive always wanted to find out... i tried google it, but gave me too much american sites
I'm assuming you are talking about a self directed RRSP account.

Most brokerage will wave the annual fee for accounts of 25K min. 15K for HSBC, Etrade and BMO. I don't know of any no min, free accounts in Canada though.
Deal Addict
Jul 24, 2003
2205 posts
1124 upvotes
robattoronto wrote:Lots of info in these sites below. I trade thru enorthern. Thats what I was referring to. Altho tradefreedom looks quite promising. Direct access brokers with level 2 quotes. I might signup thru them.

http://formeraboutguides.com/investingc ... rokers.htm
http://www.ndir.com/SI/brokers/discount.shtml
http://www.globeinvestor.com/series/bro ... index.html
http://www.stockbrokerguide.com/canadia ... rokers.php
http://www.interactivebrokers.ca
http://www.tradefreedom.com/
wow. this helped big time. thanks lots !
Deal Fanatic
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Apr 8, 2001
5275 posts
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Assuming a stock is 'liquid' market orders r generally filled very quickly.
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