Updated Tuesday, August 25, 2009



Overview:

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Wells Fargo Advisors offers an average trading experience. Buying and selling securities from the main trading center screen works well, though selling existing positions from the positions menu could be done better. The gain/loss information on the positions screen does not update in a timely manner, which should be a deal breaker for high frequency traders. Canceling and modifying open orders works well.

Order Types:

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See our Order Types page for an explanation of order types

• Market
• Limit
• Stop Loss
• Stop Limit

Details:

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I made an order to buy 10 shares of the Silver ETF (SLV) at a limit price of $13.75 (click on images for larger views):


I selected the trade as a good until canceled order, which at Wells Fargo Advisors is set to a 60 day expiration period. The next screen prompted me to verify my order and contained some warning messages because the limit price was above the last trading price and the trade was entered when markets were closed:


I clicked submit to verify my order. My order was accepted:


When entering a limit trade, if the limit price is more than 20% below or 20% above the last trading price, a warning message is generated at the trade confirmation screen. This is a good feature to have to help prevent traders from fat fingering a trade, yet still allows for trade execution in the proper circumstances.

Once orders are entered, their status can be checked on the order status page. Before the trade executes, users can cancel or modify an order. If either one of these actions is performed, the order status screen updates immediately. This is all well done.

I decided to let my original order go through. Once the market opened and my trade executed, the transaction history is updated. The trade date is shown but there is no hour or minute information given. The positions screen shows all existing positions. Total cost and gain/loss information does not update in a timely manner, as you can see the missing information below which was taken over 24 hours after the given position was opened:


You can trade from the position screen by clicking on the symbol name and selecting trade. This brings up the trade screen and populates the symbol. It would be more convenient if the action defaulted to sell and the quantity to the number of shares held.

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