All they had to do was set a date (preferable weeks or months ago) to allow shares to be sold or transferred.

They could have easily allowed the closing of positions only and only allowed buying in DTC-eligible tickers.

They didn't do that.

Why did they not do that?

Didn't say that. We just trade more - probably 100 times the commission compared to a regular guy.

Actually seen and read it all.

Like Janice, I also search "zecco", "penson", and others terms on a regular basis in Ihub to keep up with the current gossip. lol

If Penson is my clearing house, are they not the ultimate decision maker? If I am Penson and I allow your firm to clear through me, do I not have same say in these transactions that you process on a daily basis?

I pay more commission to eTrade in a year than my main-line brokerage has earned off me in 20.

Actually, no, they DON'T all do it the same way.

eTrade and Ameritrade curb trading activity of certain securities (as they did with MSOA after the split). Until the paper was properly processed, etrade would not allow sales in the security.

Penson has never curbed SQUAT until a few weeks ago. They seem to think they can clean up the trail after the fact.

That's fascinating stuff, Janice. but,

Why would the biggest clearing house complain about fees? They don't have to clear 80 million pieces of paper. They only have to process ONE. By account, their per trade cost should be smaller because they are so HUGE, as you keep reminding us.

eTrade gets it.
Ameritrade gets it.

How come Penson don't get it?

Maybe because eTrade and Ameritrade traders do business in cash instead of certs?

I don't think everyone is getting cut off. Penson-cleared brokers were notorious for allowing trading in tickers that no one else would touch. They were never concerned with delivery issues (like etrade and Ameritrade).

How many of these pinksheet promoters cleaned out their Penson accounts and left behind a pile of paper? I pray a TON. The biggest scammer of all gets scammed.

I looked it over when the news about the questionable loan hit the wires.

I am a small-town CPA. I have no personal experience with public companies.

I think we see an SEC investigation on Penson in the coming months. When all the OTC scammers were homegrown boys, the SEC turned a blind eye. Madoff opened the floodgates.

For the last several years, I think a lot of scammer dollars left the country to who knows where.

Penson had a hand in that.

By "fessing up" they have guaranteed a restatement. Management and auditors BOTH failed to notice a $40 mil "oops" until the filings were released. The total exceeded 10% of their book equity. This is a material misstatement that calls into question the true value of other collateral.

Now they are suddenly unable to clear paper?

eTrade has their house in order.
So does Ameritrade and several others.
Who lit Penson's pants on fire?
The supposed biggest and "bestest" should have known better.

And this mammoth freakin' clearing house couldn't absorb the fees? ha....and I am the queen of England.

Where there is smoke, baby,.....

Nyet. You don't throw away millions in clearing fees and sour thousands of trader relationships unless the guv'nment has their shoe in your other orifice.

Restated Penson financials to come. And they will be UGLY.

For someone that "don't much care one way or another about Penson", you should spend a lot of time trolling the term to reply to messages on various boards.

Just making note...

Correct. By why are you constantly on the defense of a clearing firm that clearly facilitated 99% of the POS pink trading for the last several years?

Explain please.

I wonder how many promo pimps had THEIR accounts locked up today in the "Penson sweep"?

Too bad so many regular folks got caught in the net.

Lots of traders using discount brokers had their accounts suspended due to Penson clearing issues. Takes a lot of volume flippers/traders out of the game, imo.

Added 100K .013.

Sounds like they are flushing out the big volume pink traders. Back to my original theory - they don't like you feeding at their table, even if it is scraps.

They probably had a small group to bounce and had to set the parameters so wide, 2,000+ got caught in it.

You will get your answer when Penson restates their financials.

And they will.

pump much?

Only if it clears through Penson.

Here is what my gut tells me...

Penson will have to restate financials and resubmit amended filings for prior quarters. They have a material misstatement in their filings that a child auditor should have sniffed out. The accountants blew the call on illiquid non-performing bonds secured by a racetrack managed by a board member.

They lost $20 mil last year and now have to suck up a $40 mil write-down.

Here is what their CEO had to say: In his Thursday statement, Pendergraft called the selloff in Penson shares "unwarranted." The company estimated that the Retama bonds represented just 0.5% of Penson's $8.7 billion in average daily customer balances during the first quarter

Sounds like something a pinkie CEO would say. He left out the part about wiping out 10% of stockholders' equity.

And they think penny stocks are their problem? BS.

Late edit: Just for grins, take a look at the filing for CLNW.PK, a classic POS OTC. The Penson board member in question is the president.

Where does that statistic come from?

And why only Penson?

I say baloney.

Again, why is Penson the only clearing firm with this problem?

This is how you clean up the OTC market (or any financial mess, for that matter). From the bottom up. Shut down the no-brainers first, then move on to bigger fish.

All of this fee talk is only coming up on Penson cleared securities.

I don't think the core issue is about fees. It's about forcing brokerages to clean up their back office paperwork and reporting.

My guess is Penson has a liquidity problem and no one will take their stuff on a promise and a prayer anymore.

I also believe that there is a small but highly profitable group of traders standing between the brokerage MM and the retail sheep. Guys like Modern, Nate, AMAR (back in the day) and you Bounce folks who know their game so well. They are just going to change the game. Take out the Penson route, and a handful of firms control the game.

OK. What's up with Penson? It started with their SEC filing and the bad collateral. Now they seem to have clearing issues.

I am not in the NSS conspiracy camp. I am in the "Penson seems to have been scammed by the scammers" camp.

Your take on this situation?

I think the SEC has it's nose up in Penson's business.
Where there is smoke...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203869804576327382200170672.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoobarrons

PENSON ~ Important Notice to All Correspondents – New Low Priced Securities Deposit Policy

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=64615035&txt2find=penson

I held onto BBDA longer than normal after seeing you guys locked out of trading. Made 5K - huge for me in a day. Thanks to this board again, btw.

I figured these MM's don't like you guys feeding at their table. Am I way off base on this?

Tough sell, even under the bid. Can't imagine someone trying to sell serious size this a.m. in BBDA.

I bot the .002's BBDA. Thanks, fellas.

I bot & sold BBDA this a.m. through erade - regular fees. This is only a problem with brokers clearing through Penson.

Penson got troubles.

Where were you this a.m. at .004, wiseman?

Yep, trying to tap .0109/.011 and suck down into nervousness.

Hmm...CEO who follows through on his word. Interesting.

Auto .0115/Nite, CSTI & Auto .012

VFIN lurking. Dipping right on the fibs.

It's been a whine-fest on that MSOA board. They will be out before close. One guy posted his 280K dump this a.m. at .004.

VFIN getting to be a real boogeyman. 'Eff 'im.

Well, with that approach, go buy yourself a big old bag o' lotto tickets.