Grey (or Expert) to Pink

[creede]

I got mad again yesterday at Schwab. A manager called me today with an update. So maybe there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

When Expert (or Grey) stocks turn Pink they never update in the Schwab system.

NEVER.

That means to place a trade you must give them a call -- which is slow and frustrating.

To compound the irritation, you cannot alter the orders the brokers put in your behalf. You cannot even CANCEL those orders.

Sends me through the roof!

The manager today told me a large system update is ready for testing on July 19th. It is supposed to synch with OTC Markets and update on a daily basis -- which is what happens at Fidelity and ETrade.

If Beta goes well then it should be live sometime in September.

Schwab is a massive broker and I think this limitation has greatly dampened the OTC Market. Calling your broker over and over is super-sucky and makes you simply not want to trade at all.

That locks up shares which could be sold and also keeps people from putting in limit orders to buy in the first place.

It also makes you make decisions which you would not normally make -- like selling your entire position at one time because you cannot bear the thought of calling Schwab again and again to try and sell in smaller pieces.

I am relieved to hear they are still working on fixing things. I thought perhaps this was intentional because they simply want all of their penny flippers to leave Schwab completely.

I don't think this manager called to lie to me. He knew I was irate and just wanted straight answers. If they had no plans to fix anything, I think he would have told me.

I think.

So maybe things will get better in the final Q of the year.