Stock Order Entry Help:

Use the Stock Order Entry screen to place buy and sell orders for stocks. You should always call us (1-800-925-8566 or 212-766-0230) if you need help with any order.

The fields on this screen correspond to the information a broker would ask when taking your order. Orders can be placed on any day, at any time - day or night. At any point you may click Cancel Order to abort the ordering process. You have not actually placed your order until you have successfully sent the order to us.

When you click Send Order, you will be given a real-time quote and will be required to enter your trading password in order to complete the trade. Orders may be either accepted or rejected. Some orders may be automatically rejected before reaching a broker.

The most common reasons for automatic rejection of orders are:
1. Placing an order that is too far away from the actual market price of a security.
2. Placing a second order for a security for which you already have an open order.
3. Placing an order in your cash account to sell a position which actually resides in your margin account, or vice versa.

After clicking "Submit" on the Order Verfication Screen, an order acknowledgement message will appear on the next screen, with a prompt to view your Order Status. Always check Order Status, to see the status of your order, after submission to Trading Direct.

We reserve the right to review and either accept or reject any order we receive. If for any reason at all you are ever unsure that we have received your order as entered, or if you have a question regarding the acceptance or rejection of a particular order, it is your responsibility to call us (1-800-925-8566 or 212-766-0230) and speak to one of the our registered brokers.

Entering A Trade

1. Select a Transaction from the drop-down box.

Buy - For a Cash Account, funds must be deposited before acceptance of an order. With a Margin Account, adequate buying power must be available before acceptance of an order.
Sell from Holdings - Select this choice if placing a sell order for stock which resides in the account you have chosen to trade in.
Sell Short - A short sale involves the sale of a security that is not owned by the seller. The investor borrows the security for delivery at a future date. An investor typically sells short in anticipation of a decline in the price of the security or to protect a profit in a long position. Orders to sell securities short are accepted subject to our ability to borrow an equivalent number of shares of that security. You must have an approved margin account prior to entering a short sale order.

By placing a short sale order, you agree that if market conditions change or if we are no longer able to borrow the shares, we may require you to cover your short sale at any time and you agree to pay any costs relating in any way to the repurchase of that security.

Before placing a short sale order, be sure that the stock's price is at or over $5 per share. You must have a margin agreement on file and enough buying power in your account. If you carry short positions in your account, the account will be "marked to the market" each Monday to ensure that the proper level of collateral is maintained.

Buy-to-cover-Short - Select this choice if you wish to close out an existing short position.

2. Shares: Enter the number of shares in whole numbers with no fractions or decimals in the Shares box.

3. Symbol: Enter a symbol in the Symbol box. If unknown, click on Lookup Symbol.

Note, there are special order entry symbols for Class A or B shares, and Preferred (Prf) Stocks (or exchange listed bonds with a designated letter series), Listed Warrants, and for stocks trading on a when issued basis. See table below for details...

SECURITY
INSERTION AFTER STOCK SYMBOL
EXAMPLE
Class or Series A or B shares a space followed by the letter series Mueller Water Class B MWA B
Preferred Stock (Prf) with letter class designation a space followed by the letters "PR", then the letter series DTE Energy Trust Preferred A DTE PRA
Listed Warrants a space followed by the letters "WS" Navios Maritime Warrants NM WS
When [As, and If] Issued Stocks a dot followed by the letters "WI" Altria (Phillip Morris) when issued MO.WI

4. Price Select an Order Type.

Market - An order to buy or sell a stated amount of a security at the most advantageous price obtainable after the order is entered, and received by the appropriate exchange, market maker. Market order execution prices may be different from the quote. As market orders are executed on a first come, first served basis, a market order may have to 'wait in line' for previously entered orders to be filled. This delay may mean that prices will change by the time your order comes up.
Limit - An order for which you set a maximum price you are willing to pay as a buyer, or a minimum price you are willing to accept as a seller.
Enter the limit price in the box that appears after clicking on "Limit"
Stop - A stop order is activated and becomes a market order once the stock trades at or through the stop price specified by you. Once the order is activated, you are guaranteed execution, but there is no guarantee of the execution price. Buy Stops must be above the bid-ask spread and Sell Stops below.
Enter the stop price in the box that appears after clicking on "Stop"

5. Timing Select a duration for the order.

Day - Day orders remain open for one trading day, unless executed or canceled. If you are placing an order after market hours, the order will be open for the next trading day. If you are placing an order during market hours, the order will remain open for the remainder of that trading day.
Note, if placing a market order, a timing of "day" must be selected.
GTC - GTC orders are Good-'Til-Canceled, which means that they remain open until executed for a period of 90 days.

6. Select an Account Type. You must be sure to select the proper Account Type for the position you wish to trade. If a particular position resides in your cash account, for example, we will automatically reject a sell order that specifies your margin account, and vice-versa.

Cash (type 1) - Enough money must be on deposit in the cash account prior to placing an order. All trades must be paid for in full. (Debits are not permitted)
Margin (type 2) - An account in which you are able to borrow money to purchase marginable stocks. You must submit a signed Margin Agreement and have minimum equity of $2000 in order to have a margin account.
Short (type 5) - Select this account type in order to sell stock short, and buy to cover short.

7. Instructions Select a qualifier, if desired, by clicking on "Instructions", otherwise the default selection will be "none".

None - Select None if you do not want any further qualifier attached to your order.
AON - AON orders are qualified as All-or-None. A buy or sell order can be marked AON to signify that no partial transaction is to be executed.
Note: Effective Oct 17 2005, the NYSE will no longer accept the “All or None” (AON) qualifier.

8. Click Send Order. Your trade will not be sent until you verify your order and enter your trading password.

When you click "submit" your order will be displayed along with a real time quote for your review.
Buy orders at the market for individual stocks placed between 4:00 PM and 4:02 PM eastern time may be rejected. Be sure to place orders for the next trading day after 4:20PM.