I’ve been using EFX for about 8 months, mainly for limit orders (with the accompanied TTO of course), and was happy with it.
On Thursday 8/16 17:25 EST, a pending limit order to sell NZDJPY @ around 88 was triggered (price was around 79 at the time) :
My order was executed at 152.19 (now that’s a nice fill ain’t it J)
My TTO was trigerred too of course and since the market was much lower my position was closed after the TTO triggered and bought at 79.43. I was away from the computer at the time.
When i came back around 19:00 EST, I saw that I was left LONG 2500 NZDJPY @ 79.43.
That exact minute i received a phone call from an MB representative and he told me about the 152.19 trade being busted. Bummer, but no problem as it’s obviously a bad quote (although EFX’s repsonsibility as all other qoutes were probably taken off as part of the liquidity issue). While not having a problem with the trade being busted, I have a BIG problem with being left long at 79.43.
I had to argue with the representative for about 15 minutes why i shouldn’t be long nzdjpy and he finally gave me an email address of the person who might be able to make decisions regarding refunds. He told me i’ll get a response the next day (Friday). It’s tuesday afternoon now.
I suffered a small monetary loss as i risk very small amounts (but still 4% of my account!), but the real problem here is that a person can no longer leave pending orders on EFX’s platform –
One gets a bad execution, the trade is busted and he’s left with an unprotected (TTO was triggered, you’re either long or short but have NO STOP!) position he did not intend to initiate UNLESS his pending order was executed.
To re-itereate: limit order executed (event A happens), TTO orders opened (triggering event B), all’s well so far. Now the original limit order is busted (A not valid anymore) your TTO order (event B, trigerred CONDITIONALLY on event A) is still valid and you have an unintended open position, unprotected, in the market.
This is especially worrying since MB has server maintanence twice a day around 5pm and midnight EST and liquidity is scarce at these times, prone to off market limit orders being triggered.
I'm sure you understand a client has everything to lose trading limit orders on EFX with the threat of something like what happening hanging over his head.
I expect to receive a refund of the small loss incurred but i wonder if Justin can assure EFX clients that if a trade is busted, all subsequent trades triggered by the busted one will be considered invalid and the money won/lost on them being returned (and excuses of the TTO being a legit trade eventhough the original trade was busted might hold in court but should not satisfy any thinking customer). I won’t use limit orders on EFX until i get such an assurance.
I’m wondering if the trade would’ve been busted if I (the small customer) was on the other side of the trade (could have happened if i used a market order to buy at the exact same time- would’ve been filled at 152.19)?
Did such a thing happen to anyone reading this? I’m interested in hearing how your bad/great fills were treated...
On Thursday 8/16 17:25 EST, a pending limit order to sell NZDJPY @ around 88 was triggered (price was around 79 at the time) :
My order was executed at 152.19 (now that’s a nice fill ain’t it J)
My TTO was trigerred too of course and since the market was much lower my position was closed after the TTO triggered and bought at 79.43. I was away from the computer at the time.
When i came back around 19:00 EST, I saw that I was left LONG 2500 NZDJPY @ 79.43.
That exact minute i received a phone call from an MB representative and he told me about the 152.19 trade being busted. Bummer, but no problem as it’s obviously a bad quote (although EFX’s repsonsibility as all other qoutes were probably taken off as part of the liquidity issue). While not having a problem with the trade being busted, I have a BIG problem with being left long at 79.43.
I had to argue with the representative for about 15 minutes why i shouldn’t be long nzdjpy and he finally gave me an email address of the person who might be able to make decisions regarding refunds. He told me i’ll get a response the next day (Friday). It’s tuesday afternoon now.
I suffered a small monetary loss as i risk very small amounts (but still 4% of my account!), but the real problem here is that a person can no longer leave pending orders on EFX’s platform –
One gets a bad execution, the trade is busted and he’s left with an unprotected (TTO was triggered, you’re either long or short but have NO STOP!) position he did not intend to initiate UNLESS his pending order was executed.
To re-itereate: limit order executed (event A happens), TTO orders opened (triggering event B), all’s well so far. Now the original limit order is busted (A not valid anymore) your TTO order (event B, trigerred CONDITIONALLY on event A) is still valid and you have an unintended open position, unprotected, in the market.
This is especially worrying since MB has server maintanence twice a day around 5pm and midnight EST and liquidity is scarce at these times, prone to off market limit orders being triggered.
I'm sure you understand a client has everything to lose trading limit orders on EFX with the threat of something like what happening hanging over his head.
I expect to receive a refund of the small loss incurred but i wonder if Justin can assure EFX clients that if a trade is busted, all subsequent trades triggered by the busted one will be considered invalid and the money won/lost on them being returned (and excuses of the TTO being a legit trade eventhough the original trade was busted might hold in court but should not satisfy any thinking customer). I won’t use limit orders on EFX until i get such an assurance.
I’m wondering if the trade would’ve been busted if I (the small customer) was on the other side of the trade (could have happened if i used a market order to buy at the exact same time- would’ve been filled at 152.19)?
Did such a thing happen to anyone reading this? I’m interested in hearing how your bad/great fills were treated...