Futures account srew up - Y2K??????

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Got up this morning 3:00 am EST. Started to check my positions in my online commodity and future account with Alaron Trading Co. Boy was I shocked. When I last checked my margin and positions at 5:00 pm 1/3/00 every thing was fine. Plenty in my account. This morning I was on margin call! I thought that was strange. So I started going through my positions to see what contract had either skyrocketed or plunged. Everything was normal until I got to my May Copper contracts. I bought 5 contracts at 86.10 cents a pound.My online statement was saying that the May contract was 00.12 cents a pound. According to their computer the May contract had dropped 85.98 cents over night!!!!! I have a DTN dish that I also get quotes and charts on. I quickly checked the over night trading on it. Copper was only down 00.10 cents a pound or down $25.00 a contract. I should have a profit of $200.00 per contract or a total of $1,000.00, not minus $107,475.00!!!!! If you trade futures check your positions. This is a Y2k glitch if I ever saw one. Any questions, please ask. I am not making this up!

-- P.J. Scott (rwcapitalmanage@aol.com), January 04, 2000

Answers

Excellent report - Mulitiply this times 10s of thousands and you have a lot of lost productivity. It should affect Alaron Trading Companys bottom line because more people are needed for fewer transactions OR it means a lot of pissed off customers that may go someplace else. It will be survival of the fittest for business in a lot of cases.

I've never been a fan of being on hold.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 04, 2000.


Yea, especially the automated systems, thank you for calling press 1 for?? etc... We are currently experiencing high call volume, estimated wait 248 minutes... Please hold or try your call again later.

I had to deal with that last night when my new (1 year old) high end microwave suddenly acted up and did not stop cooking until it shut down all together, destroying all the food inside. Guess it pays to watch even stuff in a microwave.

-- LALA (LaLALAND@aol.com), January 04, 2000.


New to the forum, but I have been checking World Indices on Aol and have notice that New Zealand has not updated since 12/31, could someone please explain this. Notice also that alot of commodities have not update or are unchanged since 12/30 or 12/31, now I know that the Chicago Merc is up and running so why isn't anyone trading.

-- jadzea (jadzea99@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

I have been checking World Indices on Aol and have notice that New Zealand has not updated since 12/31, could someone please explain this. Notice also that alot of commodities have not update or are unchanged since 12/30 or 12/31, now I know that the Chicago Merc is up and running so why isn't anyone trading.

-- jadzea (jadzea99@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

PJ, Come on. One market shows up on the run at an incorrect level and you're screaming Y2K. It happens all the time. It could be y2k but its probably not.

Same for New Zealand reporting...

-- Downstreamer (downstream@bigfoot.com), January 04, 2000.



Sure enough, Just checked Yahoo. New Zealand's on there updating right along with all the rest....

-- Downstreamer (downstream@bigfoot.com), January 04, 2000.

Downstreamer, how long have you been trading comodities? This has never ever happened to me. It can only be a computer problem. Hey when the computer automatically debits your account over $100,000 it is not funny. Calling them up now to find out what is the problem. Will let you know.

-- P.J. Scott (rwcapitalmanage@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

Sorry DownStreamer, I owe you an apoligy. You were right, the run was messed up. First time that amount of money has come out when it wasn't self inflicted.

-- P.J. Scott (rwcapitalmanage@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

Hey P.J,

I don't think there are any other traders on the forum. It might be interesting to chat. I trade mostly T-bonds, sometimes the grains. I'm waiting on my Metastock Update to get back in. The old Dos version does some amazing things in this new century.

00, '70, 100 are the "years" so far.

-- Gregg (g.abbott@starting-point.com), January 04, 2000.


P.J., I just received a call(10:30 M.S.T) from Lind-waldock,who are my options trading account. They say I placed an order for a quantity of crude oil calls today(January 4,2000), problem is I haven't placed any orders since last week(December 30,1999) and have not been online today until this posting. Asked them repeatedly if this was Y2K related and reply was that this has nothing to do with Y2K. Sure funny, since I have had this account since September and not one problem until today.

-- (jim@dorado.net), January 04, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ