Any broker looking for a new client?
Back Ground:
I am a TradeStation fan. I love it. I have tried a lot of other workstations but have found TradeStation to have THE best data and reliability. I have steered many many traders toward TradeStation. If you want to trade error free and have the flexibility to draw your own indicators, do research and test your trading ideas, it is #1. I promote it because I believe in it.
Most people complain that TradeStation is expensive, I trade enough however to get the $99/month fee waived but I still have to pay for the data feeds. One problem I have with TradeStation is that I can not have two workstation running at the same time. TradeStation now provides simulated accounts which I would love to have running during the day to test some of my trading ideas in real time. It would be really helpful and insightful. The problem is you can not be logged into the simulated account the same time that you are logged into your active trading account and the simulated accounts only play real-time data so you must make the choice of running your simulated account or trading your real account or get a 2nd login.
Fore Ground:
I had a frustrating day today. My TradeStation was uncharacteristically hanging. I was missing data and my trades were going against me.. (well that third item I guess was not their fault). I limped through the data on a hobbled TradeStation. I rebooted and worked through it. The market sold off into the close and my TZAs were now all green and I wanted to sell near the close. I placed my order in the Trade Matrix and it froze, I thought my workstation was broken again so I tried to cancel the order. I couldn't. It was frozen yellow and I was told to call customer support. I sat and watched as the trades traded above then moved below my asking price. Finally two minutes later I got an order cancel and I was out $1,000 from were I put the initial order in. I closed the position and decided to fume to the TradeStation trade desk. I was part of the close and nothing they could do about. Next time do not trade near the close. Great, thanks. (but I wasn't part of the close, they canceled my order!)
While I had the un-helpful trade-desk guy on the phone I complained about my platform hanging all day and he informed me that a customer service person could help me with fixing my TradeStation. After a 15 minute wait I talked to Manny. He was nice. I liked him. He told me there was a critical patch that I should have been notified about it. I told him I was not called, I did not get an email.
"I did not know Manny" I said.
Oh well, he talked me through downloading the critical update and all was fine. I complained about the TradeStation requirement of using Internet Explorer and how I didn't think it right that TradeStation should dictate what I used for my default browser. He agreed but sadly said he didn't work the developers. I told Manny to tell the developers that they were lazy. We laughed.
One of Manny's validation questions when we first connected, beside the last 4 digits of my social security number, was
"Who is your sales person".
"I don't know", I replied.
I had not talked to a sales person at TradeStation in years. The question did make me curious and reminded me that I wanted to get a second login so I could trade my simulated account during the day (this story is coming around). Manny said he could not help me but would send me to a third person, Sarha in Customer Service, who would be more than happy to help.
Sarha asked how she could help and I told her I would like a second login. She was pleasant and told me the second login was $99/Month, but if I traded 10K shares a month she could wave the second login workstation fee.
"That would be great", I replied, "and there won't be any data fees will there?"
"Well of course", Sarah announced.
"Can I get those waived?", I questioned.
"No of course not, we have to pay those to the data exchange", she explained
"But I don't want to incur more data fees just to trade a simulated account", I protested
"Well there is nothing I can do"
"Do you every waive the data fees?", I asked.
"Never", she replied
"OK thanks anyway's", I said.
I hung up the phone and returned to my recently fixed TradeStation that had locked me out of a $1k profit. One of the great features of TradeStation is the TradeManger Analysis window. It lets you look at your trading over a period of time. I ran an report for April, I did pretty good. I noticed in the report that I traded over 90,000 shares that month.
That made me curious so I ran the report from the beginning of the year. Here is a section:
So for 4 months this year I have traded 463,381 shares and paid $7,614.03 in commission. That totals a run rate of close to $23,000 dollars a year in broker commissions, plus TradeStation keeps the liquidity add fees from the exchange and whatever other money they can skim. I realized, "I am a pretty good customer". At least I think I am. I hardly ask for anything. I am loyal. So I decided to call back TradeStation and a very nice man, Alex, answered the phone.
"Who is your sales person?" Alex asked me
"I don't know" I replied
Alex then went on to ask how long I had been a customer and how I had heard about TradeStation. WTF?
First off buddy, I have been a customer for a long time. I was a customer before TradeStation went "all public" and became a marketing company first and a trading company second. Alex said he would look up my records,
"Oh my gosh", Alex exclaimed, "You haven't talked to a sales person in years!"
"I know", I replied, "we have drifted apart overtime, he cashes my checks but he never calls"
"He is not even here any more" Alex explained, "Your sale person's name is blank"
"Will you be my sales person", I pleaded
"It depends" he said, "What do you need"
"I need a second login in" I replied, "I tried to get one from customer service for free but they said no"
"Oh you have to pay for a second login" he explained in a way that somehow I found extremely annoying
"WTF (you might need to expand it to be totally honest)" I exclaimed frustratingly, "I do enough business with you why would I have to pay"
"Do not use that language sir, you can not abuse me like that", he demanded
"I don't actually want to have sex with you", I explained, " it is just a phrase, maybe not the best phrase"
"Sir, if you keep this up I will have your account disabled", he said sniffling, "Now if you let me explain it to you, you need to trade 10K shares a month to get the workstation fee waived"
"I traded 100K shares last month!" I exclaimed with frustration, why doesn't he know this? Isn't he my new sales person, I thought to myself, doesn't he have customer information in front of him? Am I just a number?
"Ok than, no problem you can get a second login" he conceded
"I don't want to pay more data fees"
"Oh you have to pay data fees"
"Dude with $2k/month in commissions and trading 100K shares you should be paying me to trade here!"
"Good bye sir"
-dial tone
OK, so I didn't handle that the best I could. Alex was frustrating me, I had workstation issues all day, and the grab of my order at the end of the day and hanging it for 2 minutes at a cost to me of a $1,000 didn't exactly put me the best mood, but WTF - you have to agree, that is a bad trading day. Alex, please, if you are going to be in the trading business than get use to traders. I loved Manny, he was great, Sarah was nice, Alex was an ass.
My final point? If you want this trader at your brokerage doing this volume, and you want to provide him with a great platform and free data, and you can provide him with simulated accounts and your not going to be an ass like Alex email me at NewBroker@redliontrader.com.
