Problem with autotrade placed

Hello,



I subscribed to Break Out and Reverse Ver. 1 last night. First trade this a.m. correctly executed in my Options Express account (2 contracts position executed).



2nd trade I ended up with 4 vs. the 2 contracts that were supposed to be opened (I have closed 2 of the contracts and the existing limit order is for 2 contracts).



Did I do anything to cause this to happen? What are the chances that this will happen again?

What instrument and when exactly?

I don’t understand your questions. Please clarify.

Hi, Donald:



I have looked at this with Francis. This is an optionsXpress (OX) specific issue.



The basic issue is as follows:



1) A limit order was outstanding in your account



2) The limit filled in the futures marketplace (actually with another C2 AutoTrader, but not with you)…



3)…so we instructed OX to cancel the limit order and replace it with a market order (to keep you in sync with the system).



4) However, as a rule, we never send a market order until we get confirmation from OX that the cancel request for the limit order has been confirmed.



5) We waited for a cancel confirmation. Then we did receive this confirmation. Once we got it, we sent the market order.



6) Whoops, a few seconds later, OX told us the original limit order (previously confirmed as canceled) had been filled!



7) Now you were filled at double-quantity. AutoSynch would closed that extra position in the next sync cycle.



Elsewhere on these forums, someone mentioned that OX autotrading was a bit more flaky than other brokers, and someone else asked for specific examples of why. Well, this pretty much summarizes the problem.



This class of problem does happen on occasion at OX, due to the nature of their APi interface (asynchronous, xml-based). Not often, but sometimes.



We will file this bug report with OX and give them the relevant details. Hopefully we’ll be able to work closely with them to decrease the frequency of this happening (or even eliminate it altogether).



I’ll keep you posted.



Matthew

Matthew,



Thanks for the explanation. While not an ideal situation, I’m glad to hear that both positions would have been closed by Autotrade had I not logged into Options Xpress.



Thanks again



Don Dawson