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I am an AMP customer and have been generally happy, until recently, with the experience.
This morning I put on a trade. I tried to put in a stop order and was unable -- got a "REJECTED" message. After several attempts, I contacted the trade desk. This was the exchange:
I don't expect him to rub my feet and kiss my ass, but this matter-of-fact attitude just baffles me. Sure, it's a small position but I now start the day down 55 ticks from where I should have (tried to exit at +35 ticks, stopped out at -20 ticks).
This isn't AMP's fault directly but I had a similar experience when my Nikkei position couldn't close out a few weeks ago. The trade desk basically said, "eh, don't know what to do." Sorry, this is just not an acceptable attitude. Not once have they uttered the words "sorry for the inconvenience."
These systems should be reliable. The people at the trade desk should actually give a shit if you lose money because of their error. They're not, and they don't.
Any broker recommendations are welcome. I will lose Nikkei and HSI if I leave CQG but I don't really care, enough is enough.
This business is hard enough without my tech (CQG) and my broker (AMP) screwing me over.
I feel your pain, Brother. AMP probably saved me a lot of $$$ by banning me before I got started with them because they have the same attitude about processing payments to fund accounts.
I have had similar things happen on other accounts and I have had some good folks (Andrew with Tradovate, if I remember correctly) help me understand that on some software, like Jigsaw, each order you enter adds margin. So, you might be trading 3-lots with a 3 one-lot stops. That makes 6 lots to margin. Then when you enter an order to close, if your margin is running low or the broker's risk rules kick in, you can have an order rejected -- even an order to close your position.
This is totally absurd and needs to be changed.
Other brokers offer CQG data feeds and are actually customer service oriented. I recommend you talk to Byron Zook over at Stage 5 and/or Meagan at Discount. They have been very helpful and their rates are good as well.
Thanks -- just to be clear, margin was not an issue at all here or in any other issues I've had from them. I have the margin to swing a few hundred contracts and couldn't put in a 1-lot, and the error message I received was generic enough that I knew it wasn't a margin issue.
And I do understand that mistakes happen, but I almost feel like in order to trade real size, I need a backup broker on standby to be able to hedge. Imagine I had put on a big order and just couldn't get out. It's very disconcerting and no effort was made by them to even care about the outcome. That's what bothers me most.
Take a look at @Ironbeam, also a sponsor here -- but they offer CQG and have been in business a long time, cater to larger accounts. I suggest you start with a small account and then test out there emergency help desk multiple times before going all-in (good advice no matter where you end up).
I personally use IB, but no CQG there. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the amount of money you are describing anywhere else, personally. IB offers overnight market sweep.
Last, @Lightspeed is currently offering Elite Members a $10,000 rebate on commissions. They are soliciting larger accounts with this offer. For you to consider.
Both @Ironbeam and @Lightspeed have AMA's here on the site for you to interact directly with high levels managers.
2/ I don't see what you achieve by changing to another broker with CQG? Sure, maybe another broker "will rub my feet and kiss my ass" but presumably they too (like AMP) will not have been able to do anything about the issue while CQG was having problems ie the new brokers attitude may or may not make you feel better, but you will still be down 55 ticks.
The systems should be reliable and we (you) should be in a position to get a definitive answer from CQG (via AMP) about what went wrong and what they are doing to mitigate this happening in the future.
The suggestion about having a backup broker for hedging in this sort of instance is a good one (as long as they offer the same access to exchanges). But you could possibly achieve something similar with AMP ie could they have given you immediate access to say the Rithmic feed (assuming they have the right exchanges) so you could put in place a hedge. Or alternatively for the future you could have a sub account with AMP with the ability to activate an alternative datafeed if such issue happens again for hedging purposes.
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future - Niels Bohr, Danish Physicist
Thanks for the suggestions @Big Mike -- to be clear, I don't have a really huge account and I don't put all eggs in one basket, I was referring to day trade margin so it's nothing too substantial. Not something I'd want to lose either
@steve2222 -- this was CME (a month ago it was TSE, and the issue was the clearing firm then)
I got a phone call a bit ago from someone at AMP who was very helpful. He addressed my concerns, and put me more at ease.
* he is going to address my concerns about the manner in which the trade desk handled the request (on multiple occasions)
* when I chatted to the trade desk I did not request that they close my position as I was able to get a stop in, but he verified that if I had needed to get flat immediately, they could have done so, despite CQG being down
* we discussed the possibility of a sub-account using Rithmic (which does not charge $20 a month unless logging in), just as steve2222 mentioned, and also about using SC's TT-routed feed. These both address the possibility of hedging, however, wouldn't work for Nikkei or HSI contracts in the event of an issue there, though a hedge using ES would likely do the trick in a jam
* he will keep me in the loop about the CQG issue -- I need to have confidence in order routing
He spent overall about 40 minutes with me on the phone. It was a very good demonstration of customer service; he heard my concerns, gave me a way to get in touch with him directly, and will address the concerns I had; I am much happier now. I don't need to be pampered, but definitely need to have concerns addressed and that has been accomplished. I will keep this thread up to date with any further developments.
Amp monitors this thread as well. Glad you had a good call, but always know you are ultimately responsible. That means if this happens again, it's your fault... Theirs too, but yours first and foremost.