Questrade System "Issue"
Just a heads up for anyone else with Questrade. This was the message posted on their web trader regarding orders placed April 23rd:
Please be aware due to a technical issue, accounts that traded, deposited, or withdrew funds on Monday may now display incorrect positions and balances. Accounts affected by this issue will have any new or replacement orders reviewed by Questrade's trade desk; this process will delay the orders from being sent to the market. This issue is expected to be fully corrected by Wednesday morning. If you have any questions please contact Questrade at 1.888.783.7866.
I did follow up with Questrade customer service (waited for about 22mins before I got to speak to someone) who basically said that "it's a priority" and they're urgently working to correct this.
Interestingly, from a personal perspective, when I asked about exiting from the trades I placed yesterday via Questrade, I was told I won't be able to trade those shares until the problem on their end is solved. I made it a point to have the CS agent note on my file that I contacted them already about this issue so that when/if they have decided how to compensate customers for this error, it will be on file.
This is a pretty good warning for anyone trading that any number of things can go awry, even your broker. Although this is the first time I've encountered an error of this scale with any discount broker, including Questrade, there are times when a discount broker's system has gone down intraday. While rare, the impact of those moments where you are at the mercy of the market are incredibly nerve wracking.
To mitigate those situations, controlling how big any one position/trade is relative to your trading capital can definitely help underwrite a number of different risks and ensure if the system goes down, that you can live to trade another day.
~sparxtrading
Please be aware due to a technical issue, accounts that traded, deposited, or withdrew funds on Monday may now display incorrect positions and balances. Accounts affected by this issue will have any new or replacement orders reviewed by Questrade's trade desk; this process will delay the orders from being sent to the market. This issue is expected to be fully corrected by Wednesday morning. If you have any questions please contact Questrade at 1.888.783.7866.
I did follow up with Questrade customer service (waited for about 22mins before I got to speak to someone) who basically said that "it's a priority" and they're urgently working to correct this.
Interestingly, from a personal perspective, when I asked about exiting from the trades I placed yesterday via Questrade, I was told I won't be able to trade those shares until the problem on their end is solved. I made it a point to have the CS agent note on my file that I contacted them already about this issue so that when/if they have decided how to compensate customers for this error, it will be on file.
This is a pretty good warning for anyone trading that any number of things can go awry, even your broker. Although this is the first time I've encountered an error of this scale with any discount broker, including Questrade, there are times when a discount broker's system has gone down intraday. While rare, the impact of those moments where you are at the mercy of the market are incredibly nerve wracking.
To mitigate those situations, controlling how big any one position/trade is relative to your trading capital can definitely help underwrite a number of different risks and ensure if the system goes down, that you can live to trade another day.
~sparxtrading