Stock Trading Grade: C
Overview:
Trading at Bank of America is average. The order entry interface is done well enough to get the job done. Canceling orders works fine but attempts to modify orders generated errors. Trading from the portfolio holdings menu could also use some improvement. Confirmations show trade execution down to the minute.
Order Types:
See our Order Types page for an explanation of order types
Market
Limit
Stop Loss
Stop Limit
Details:
I made an order to buy 100 shares of China Southern Airlines (ZNH) at a limit price of $8.50 (click on images for larger views):
I entered the order as good for the day execution but users can select good until canceled orders. BOA does not specify when these orders are purged from their system. The next screen prompted me to verify my order:
My order was confirmed:
Once orders are entered, their status can be checked on the order status page. Before the trade executes, users can modify or cancel an order. Canceling an order works fine, but modifying a trade was not possible. I tried to change my order and received the following error message:
It says that it cannot determine if my order has reached the marketplace and therefore cannot replace my order with a new one. If I tried to change my order during market hours this might be acceptable but since the market is not open it should know that my trade clearly could not have executed.
I decided to let my trade go through. Once the market opened and my trade executed, I could view trade details. Here I could see that the trade execution time to the minute, along with other information:
I then viewed my holdings by clicking on the Account Info main tab and selecting positions:
I decided to sell my position, so I clicked on the trade link below the correct position name:
This link brought up a trade screen that populated the symbol. It would be much more convenient if this screen also filled in the order to sell and the number of shares that I owned for the quantity, something that is done at many competitors.
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