CME Group Problem

[mhibbert 1]

So maybe this is me not understanding the SSR rule correctly, but it seemed like Andrew (with a different broker) was not having the same issue today as we traded the same stock.

I am with CMEG.

I had a long position with $AMAT, it started selling off and the SSR came into effect while I was in the trade. I tried to sell my position but kept getting error messages "Short marketable limit order disabled due to SSR!"

My understanding with the SSR rule is that you can't short a stock until there is an uptick. But I should still be able to sell my long position even during a down tick right? I seemed to be the only one in the chat room today unable to cover my position as it was trending down.

The big issue I see is that this continued for 3 full minutes! until one of my sell orders was finally accepted (I sent many and many). So needless to say I lost a bucket full of cash.

I emailed CMEG explaining the issue

Snippet from their response:

"AMAT dropped more than 10% and became SSR. When this SSR took effect, our system does a reconciliation on our books checking positions based on the restriction for the clients we had and what type of positions they were in. 

This reconciliation occurs system-wide when it picks up shorts and sells occurring on an SSR stock. This means the system reconciliation is not immediate but triggers when the system recognizes sells and shorts on said stock. This is why the orders were not executed immediately. "

I asked for them to refund my loss but they said they won't and reminded me of the risks of trading........ 

Anyone else using CMEG having similar problems?

Any advice from our more experienced traders?

Am I understanding the SSR rule correctly?

Is my sell order not being filled during a SSR just part of the risks of trading (seems like a massive risk)?

Is this a reasonable response from CMEG?

Something like this makes me never want to trade anything with a SSR or with SSR potential again because the risk of getting locked into my position is just way to scary.

[Skye 28]

This sounds crazy! So they're saying you couldn't sell because their system was reconciling and it took 3 minutes for that to finish? That seems ridiculous!

There is some problem with CMEG & SSR which is how I found this. I don't know if it's related but someone else on the forum brought it up and is contacting CMEG about it. We can't short a stock AT ALL when there is an SSR on it. It won't trigger on the uptick.

[Robbie Williams 12]

Hey mate I finally got a reply from CMEG when I was asking why I couldn’t short during a SSR:

 

Being an offshore broker, our clients do not have direct market access and as such, trades are executed through Capital Markets Elite Group in a principal capacity. Due to this, when stocks go SSR, the company is not willing to bear the risk that it imposes on the net market position of the company. As you have seen, we do not impose this on all SSR stocks but we do so on most. While this is not always the case, this is the stance of the company at this time. 

[Miguel Angel 65]

That is insane! It's giving me second thoughts about opening an account with CMEG. Thanks for posting!

[Ercilia182 4]

My account is active and i am planning on using it this upcoming week, i will definitely keep this in mind, when shorting a stock.  

 

[trader_JK 10]

Hi Folks,

I have been with CMEG since Aug this year but just went live around 3rd week of Aug. I want to share some of my experience related to this thread. I never had any broker before CMEG so could not tell if this problem is common with other brokers or not. I am grateful for Andrew who made a great deal with broker for us but so far I encountered a few problems.

1. I can't trade SSR like some of you mentioned here.

2. I got up every morning 1 to 11/2 hour before market open to prepare and make sure the stocks that I planned to short have shares. They did pre-market, but after the market opened I pressed my hotkey, nothing happened. I checked the montage the "S" is disappeared. This did not happen to all of them. Our typical (MU, TWTR, AMD and JD etc..) are OK, but some new stocks even the they have 80-100M shares they are not available for short after market opened.

3. Thursday last week, I was long a stock with 1400 shares. When I tried to sell, it did nothing. I tried hotkey, click on sell button, ESC, Shift+ESC, nothing. The stock kept falling. I never called them before so I tried the 3 numbers that in their Q&A page they sent. Finally after they transferred me to the right people. Buy then I already down close to $1000. Worst, the tech that helped me was lazy and did not sent any email to me indicated that he was helping me. I sent trade log and screenshot of the amount plus what it said on screen to brokerage and support department but never got acknowledgement that they will look into it. Their platform caused this problem but they don't want to have any thing to do with it.

4. The next day, it happened again. This time I got help quick so I only lost $20 and the tech guy sent me an email acknowledged that he did try to help me.

I hoped they help refund me with my lost.

 

 

[Mike F 0]

Thanks everyone for posting.  I have been using CMEG since April.  I have experienced a few glitches here and there, but I have not incurred a loss as of yet.  This SSR issue however sounds like a huge problem.  It is one thing to be blocked from entering a short position during SSR, but it is unacceptable that you can't exit a long position and they are acknowledging that their system is the problem and saying it is just part of the risk of trading.  This, along with the recent big jump in thier ECN fees, just may be a deal breaker for me.

[trader_JK 10]

Hi Folks,

Just to give you an update. I just got reply back from CMEG today. Needless to say it's the same one like mhibbert  posted on Aug. 17th above. In short they were saying that they warned us that this is a risk associated with trading. They even added that they are off-shore so the connection is not that reliable but this is the price to pay when we don't have 25K (not word for word but in an essence). Have you ever heard auto makers response to customers who sued them due to their faulty equipment some thing like this? "Look folks, we warned you that buying a car to drive on a freeway is risky. Any thing can go wrong with that car and we won't be held responsible for it". Oh well, at this point since I don't have 25 - 30K, I am stuck with them for a while. Just be careful folks. I will be in the SIM until I can find and add more money to my account. But next time I will be more careful not to take too big shares if a stock is on SSR.

 

[nmarnson 8]

This just happened to me today. Turned a $100 stop loss into a $350 loss, and totally wrecked my mindset for the day. Trading is hard enough, now I have to deal with not being in control of when I can exit a trade??

Overall CME has been fine, but I won't be trading any SSR stocks anymore until I can switch to a US broker. I'm happy to know about this, and not be in the dark anymore. 

[Jramosent 1]

Can we come up with a pro and cons list for cmeg? I will be joining them soon and would be nice to see the cons to avoid certain criteria.

[david10p 1]

Had the same exact problem happen to me today. I was long on SQ and my stop loss was at a break even. When my stop was triggered it failed to sell and I sent multiple orders before one was accepted 30 cents below my stop. I have contacted them but honestly don't expect them to refund me. As a general rule of thumb I won't trade any SSR stock on CMEG, long or short from now on.

[Garry 5]

I had this happen last week. I talked to DAS support thinking that was the problem and they essentially stated it was me. I then asked Andrew for his hot-keys just to compare against mine and explained what was happening. Andrew then checked with CMEG and it turns out the problem was on their end.

I should check in here for answers to this stuff more often.

I was trying to stop out a long position on a stock under SSR when this happened, and I had got myself into a bind with 1K shares on something I shouldn't have been doing... It's a horrible feeling. Every time I tried to sell the position, whether it was market order or whatever, it was simply rejected. I restarted DAS, no good. I eventually sold my position by logging in with my iPad and selling the position there (for a gain actually, it moved my way after hitting the stop! yay!).

I still can't short SSR (Tried yesterday) however I have been able to trade stocks under SSR long, but I try to avoid them at least until I know this issue is fixed for good. Andrew has advised me that they are going to fix this but I always have my iPad on the Mobile DAS page ready to log in and get out of the position if needed, and have added CMEG to speed dial!

 

[Kasper 13]

The same thing happened to me on LUV.

I went long and did not notice the stock was on SSR. This is a scary thing because it can take several minutes for CMEG to get back to you.

I was supposed to sell half at the small pop but nothing happened. I kept getting the order rejection for 2-3 min before it finally sold my entire position.

 

[Daniel Thomas 22]

Wow...  Just perusing the forums, and stumbled upon this thread.  I've been using CME for most of 2018 now; mainly in a smaller account, which I try to take at least a few trades in daily (my primary account is with IKBR). 

In any case, I've never experienced this issue...  I have had a hard time (with CMEG) placing marketable limit orders when a stock is on restriction (SSR), so my workaround is to place a LIMIT order between the bid/ask, and the system always accepts it.  I prefer the way the DAS platform operates in conjunction with IKBR, in that I can place a marketable limit order -- even below the BID -- but it just won't fill unless it drops lower first, then ticks up...

Based on my experience with this, I would recommend trying this in the future:  If you cannot get out of a position using hotkeys (probably most often resulting in an attempt at a marketable limit order) due to this crazy rule, try placing a LIMIT order instead.  I know it's different than the issue described, but my situation (mentioned above) does share similarities with regards to the technology.  

Please keep us posted if this continues to happen.  It's definitely NOT something I'd be happy with...  And considering I get asked about CMEG a lot (due to my using them on my YouTube channel) --- I would like to include this sort of feedback when asked about them pros/cons of using them.  

Have a great day people: STAY HUMBLE; STAY GREEN!  

 

 

[keen246 7]

I was seriously considering opening an account with CMEG due to be the only seemingly alternative for non-US/non-Canadians that want to avoid the dreadful PDT rule. But after reading the comments on this thread, it seems like CMEG is just awful and won't accept any responsibility for their poor performance. Any suggestion on where to open an account without being bound with the PDT rule?