Expensive learning lesson

[capricho]

As a novice investor I have made my share of mistakes and this morning I made my biggest: selling an OTC stock by placing a market order. When I placed the sell order the quote was $1.30. The order took several minutes to execute and by the time it was filled, I noticed that it closed not for anything near $1.30, but rather $.22! I immediately rechecked the quote and it still registered as $1.30. I felt as if I had been robbed blind. A call to Schwab confirmed that these kind of shenanigans happens all the time since OTC and pink sheet stocks are, as the Schwab rep described, "the wild wild west." Even the Schwab rep admitted that he, too, had experienced this kind of thievery.

So the lesson is, ALWAYS place limits on OTC orders. Don't let this happen to you.

[AussieTrader]

You may want to take that further with Schwab and request some sort of investigation. I would not let a fill like that go by without kicking up a hell of a fuss to try and get the transaction cancelled.What was the ticker? I'd be interested to look at the days transactions. You have been robbed and its worth taking a deeper lookinto it

[stocky]

Infact I will suggest to change your broker to someone like Scottrade where you CANT place market orders for PK and OBs, also you cant sell or buy in wild ranges in ragular stocks. Or atleast you can request your broker to incorporate these safeguards. The one tick 1000% gains in those pennies are just a routine, checkout daily charts and you will see that its quite prevalent then you think. Just the losses are pushed under the carpet or put to the stove of burning hearts. Hope you make more elsewhere. Goodluck.

[cumulina]

You are not the only one...

I tried to buy a "sub-penny" stock, but as my broker only allows me to put in a limit order with 2 digits, I placed it as a market order.
I think the price I was hoping for was something like 0.0019 ...
I got it for 0.123!!!
Needless to say: it never came up - not even close!
I still have it, just to remind me not to do that again.
Anyway - it's not a loss untill I sell it! 

Good luck with the rest of your trading.

[1reilly]

capricho
The reason  I post so infrequently is I am inhibited because I am still carrying my securities licenses resulting from a sunset agreement with Morgan Stanley. I was licensed in 1968, served as president of a regional firm and retired after 36 years as a senior v.p. from Morgan Stanley. However I can respond to this. You do have the 1st liability because you did enter a market order. However, the NASD has a watchdog responsibility. Your broker should act as your advocate and report a trade like this. This is so out of range that it should immediately be canceled. Your broker's response is outrageous. I would immediately go to the office manager and relate both the trade and the conversation. He should request time and quotes for this stock. They should then argue your case. If not find a new broker. Good Luck. You could go to the NASD with this but unless it is a significant amount of money your cost may exceed your recovery.

For all members- because of my background I have a habit of watching the people I work with related to securities. I have found this board to be comprised of a very serious group of investors. Your efforts to provide information and the way you handle your follow-ups remind me of many professionals I have worked around. However, today I noticed that one of the group was actively working the Yahoo MBs for HOM,SNUS,and Sync. These posts with David's recommendation were posted last night at 9:37 p.m.
I can't understand someone  posting before the members of this board had a opportunity to act on David's recs. Watch out for opening purchases David with this kind of help. The posters ID is John-ancora. I've checked, he's all over every board we have a position. I sure hope this board can maintain it's integrity.
My licenses expire Dec 16th 2005 Hope to be of some real help then

[1reilly]

capricho
I forgot to tell you to immediately Send a letter to the Office Manager relating the entire transaction. A written letter must go into their compliance file. It is treated differently than a verbal complaint. It will also be seen when NASD does there audit.

[capricho]

Update:

My call to Schwab must have greased some wheels. At midmorning today I noticed my portfolio balance all of a sudden jolt upward by a nice spread. After checking the performance of my stocks I realized something else was causing this nice surprise. Sure enough, Schwab had indeed credited me the amount that was rightfully mine.

I appreciate all the comments that this post generated.

Capricho

[AussieTrader]

I am glad Schwab fixed that up, usually on such bad fills as that they do automatically get 'cleaned' once picked up. Based on the prices you mention I thought the ticker might be IWWI that has a crazy spread on it following a huge reverse split from when it was IWWD.

[capricho]

The ticker for this episode was CWPC (CANWEST PETROLEUM CORP). I picked up this stock based on a rumor that the Chinese were looking at gobbling up Canadian oil companies to fill their strategic reserves as a result of the Unical deal not panning out.

Capricho

ps-Pedro if you are reading this, I very much appreciate you and your partner's efforts here.

[52 windsor deluxe]

to 1 reilly...that was very informative and you seem genuine about how you feel the people on this board conduct themselves and try to help each other out. looking out for 3sof on your own is priceless...applauding you ...now you got 7 

[Ramsburg]

Update:

My call to Schwab must have greased some wheels. At midmorning today I noticed my portfolio balance all of a sudden jolt upward by a nice spread. After checking the performance of my stocks I realized something else was causing this nice surprise. Sure enough, Schwab had indeed credited me the amount that was rightfully mine.

I appreciate all the comments that this post generated.

Capricho

I'm really glad they fixed this situation and that you had posted here about that, this is a very valuable post in deed, and a lot of people can benefit from this testimonial! I must applaud you, and all people helping here on this topic !
1reilly, I'm sure we are all looking forward for Dec 16th

best regards to all !