My complaint filed with the SEC today against Etrade regarding this matter - note I could have ball-busted a lot more but I was restricted to 3000 characters:
Etrade is restricting online trading of certain stocks.
On 3/7/07 I was able to purchase shares in ATLJ online through Etrade. On 3/21/07 Etrade put one of these insane restrictions on this stock thus not allowing me to sell this stock online - it requires that I call the sell in. They are an online broker - they sold me those shares online, I should be allowed to sell them online.
Back in October of 2006 they did the exact same thing to me with a stock that was then trading by the symbol SSSU. They allowed me to purchase it online but when I wanted to sell it, I could only sell it via phone and by the time I got through to a live broker and he gave me the third degree asking a bunch of identification questions, the stock already down ticked twice! At that point I sent the SEC a complaint - Etrade responded to this compliant with a totally lame excuse and the SEC did nothing about it. In that response from Etrade, a Compliance Analyst named Gabrielle Iengo, stated that I needed to go over the Customer Agreement. She then cut and pasted a few paragraphs from Etrade's terms of service agreement. These are the two points that she quoted, and I still don't see the relevance to this situation:
"6(e) Bulletin Board/Pink Sheet Stocks
Bulletin board, pink sheet and other thinly-traded securities ("bulletin board stocks") present particular trading risks, in part because they are relatively less liquid and more volatile than actively traded securities listed on a major exchange. I understand that bulletin board stocks may be subject to different trading rules and systems than other securities and that I may encounter significant delays in executions, reports of executions and updating of quotations in trading bulletin board stocks. E*TRADE Securities in its sole discretion may require limit orders on certain bulletin board stock transactions. The Market Data supplied by E*TRADE Securities regarding bulletin board stocks is updated from time to time, but may not be current at any given point in time."
and in regard to their trading system:
"7. (a)TRADING SYSTEM
E*TRADE Securities offers a variety of ways of accessing my Account, including telephone, online and IVR services. I agree that if I experience any difficulties accessing the Service through any Access Device, particularly during periods of heavy trading and volatile market conditions, I will attempt to use alternate methods to access E*TRADE Securities. E*TRADE Securities, however, will not accept orders or instructions by e-mail, facsimile or postal mail (including U.S. mail or overnight delivery)."
Now, I am no lawyer, but where does it say in those paragraphs that they may allow a customer to purchase securites online but prohibit them to sell it online? And the paragraph regarding their trading system is basically just a disclaimer that covers them if their site is down. This explanation was useless as far as I was concerned and the SEC accepted this?
AI
