# ECN rejected on questrade request? why?



## joncnca (Jul 12, 2009)

i tried to buy some shares in an ETF on questrade, and at the end of the day the status said "ECN Rejected"

why was my request rejected? did i request to buy too few units? where would i find info about the minimum number of units i can buy, if this is the case? for what other reasons would my request be rejected?

how do i get my request to go through? thanks.


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

I've never had that happen,but was it a limit order? If so, is it possible that the bid wasn't "hit"?


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## joncnca (Jul 12, 2009)

nope, no limit

i purchased late at night and set the duration to 'day' expecting it to be valid for the following trading day. is it not able to 'queue' a request this way?

if i set it to GTC, it ought to work, eh? otherwise i'll try to buy during the day


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

I don't believe you can make over night trades with Questrade. Yes, "day" represents trading day.


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## Marino_238 (Apr 18, 2009)

Setting your duration to 'day' might have been the problem if you are trading at night. You might have to set it to the specific date of the following day.


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## mogul777 (Jun 2, 2009)

FrugalTrader said:


> I've never had that happen,but was it a limit order? If so, is it possible that the bid wasn't "hit"?


FT, this would simply result in his bid not being filled, you have to do something wrong for it to be "rejected". Perhaps the day thing was the issue, but there wasn't enough info provided to actually give a useful response...


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## joncnca (Jul 12, 2009)

it was about 11pm when i logged into questrade. was going to have a busy day the next day so i wanted to put in my request to buy about 100 units of XRE:CA, expecting that the request would go through to buy the next trading day. set to "market" order type, duration "day". when i checked order status at the end of the day, about 8pm the next day, the status column indicated "ECN rejected". that's about as much information as i got.

anyway i've put in another order with duration set to "GTC" and i'll check it during the day. if it doesn't work, i'll request to buy during the trading day, and hopeuflly that'll get it sorted out.


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## Mockingbird (Apr 29, 2009)

You need to put in some sort of Market-On-Open (MOO) or Limit Order (if Questrade server accepts customer orders at night). Plain "market order" is submitted only during regular market hours.


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## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

Mockingbird hit the nail on the head. joncnca sent a "market" order to the ECN with a "day" duration. Market orders are normally sent for instant resolution. It is not surprising that the ECN rejected the order. If you want a market price, and you are sending the order outside of market hours, you should send a market-on-open order. Outside of market hours, you should send a limit bid or limit offer that is good for the day or good until filled. 

As a former trader, my general rule is never send market orders ever, especially outside of market hours. Some ECNs allow trading outside of market hours, during which time bid-offer spreads are typically much wider than during regular market hours. I used to place limit bids and offers before the open far from the expected market price in the hopes that some sucker would send a market order and trade with me. No one ever did, but I've seen it happen before.


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## joncnca (Jul 12, 2009)

ahhh, i see. well i guess live and learn. good point about not sending market orders.

i don't see anything like MOO on questrade. GTEM duration is good till the extended market, but does that mean absoluately ANY time?


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## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

joncnca,
Whether an ECN offers pre-market and after-hours trading or not depends wholly upon the policies of the company that runs the ECN. I don't know about the ECNs in the Canadian market, but I think for NYSE and NASDAQ issues, NASDAQ, NYSE Arca (or whatever they care calling it now) offer extended trading. I don't think BATS has trading after the close, but they may have it before the open. Direct Edge may have some trading outside of market hours. 

Extended trading hours might add about two additional hours of trading after the close. Before the open, depending upon the ECN, one can place orders and trade up to two or maybe three hours before the official open. In both cases, the trading volume is typically pretty sparse. Most extended hours trading takes place close to the beginning or end of the trading day. In general, I wouldn't recommend trading outside of normal hours, and I probably wouldn't use a GTEM order type. If you place a GTEM limit order, and it is close to the market price but doesn't get filled during the day, I question the value of getting that order filled after hours. Anyone desperate enough to remove liquidity after hours probably got stuck in a bad position that they needed to flatten and they are clearly willing to accept a bad after hours price. 

Also, it is totally up to your broker as to whether they offer certain order types, regardless of whether the exchange or ECN offers it. Also, not all brokers will connect to all ECNs. Every broker's access to the market is a bit different depending upon the deals they cut with their carrying broker (if they are a small operation) or the exchanges/ECNs (if they are a large operation). So, if your broker doesn't offer certain order types, they may just be too small or too cheap to pay for top level service from the exchange or ECN.


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