Comments on: Zecco April Fools’ Day: Million Dollar Account Balances

By: me

me — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:54:10 +0000

I’ve been trading with Zecco for quite a while now but I’m starting to get leery of it. Almost daily, I run into situations where their metric data (Volume levels, daily high/lows, etc) on a stock is way off. When it comes to trading, especially on a daily basis, accurate data is everything. I notified Zecco about this and they shot back some automated response that didn’t even address the issue. The cheap commission is nice, but not if their database is sending you false signals.

By: j

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:34:09 +0000

There are plusses and minuses, the big minus is that yes, zecco for whatever reason can’t keep track of the numbers worth anything, so make sure you know the rules like the back of your hand.

That is also the plus, their system sucks at calculating so you could really take advantage. There were a few times when i made a few round trips with my money (25k and over) and the buyer power just kept accumulating through out the day. At one point my Buying power was around 450k with only about 50k cash in the account. Ah.. zecco.. i guess you get what you pay for.

By: FrankC

FrankC — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:50:28 +0000

Be careful with Zecco. In two separate months they charged me margin interest, though I made no marginable trades. The second month (Feb 2009), there was NO activity at all & they charged my account interest as well as issued a margin call! Only 20 cents worth but still very scary.
I transfered out to TradeKing. (So far, this was an easy application & quick transfer process. But option trade executions seem to be very slow)

By: Cadillac1960

Cadillac1960 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:47:11 +0000

Interesting post. I had a similar situation with Noble Trading. On the morning (very early) of April 1, 2009, account balance read $6,839,590.83. Tempted to make a trade and/or close account, but by the time the market opened, all was back to correct amounts. So this was not limited to Zecco is my point.

Further investigation is definetely warranted.

By: Unsigned Char

Unsigned Char — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:18:16 +0000

I’m currently building a case against my online broker in Canada (Courtage Direct Banque Nationale) because I had a similar problem with them last October. I had been trading with money I thought was in my account, not validating the individual amount of each positions I owned against the margin, only to find later that I actually had not enough money to cover even the slightest loss, the buying power was all fictitious. I had no marginable position. In the end, they force-sold all my positions and I ended with an account in negative of a few thousands, instead of a real positive balance of a couple of thousands prior to the glitch. They said they tried to contact me, but I have no trace of those calls. Anyway, that week I was sick, and spent most of the time in bed… They decided to sell everything. All there was in the account. But If they had waited just the end of the day to start selling I would have owed them nothing. And if they had waited the next day I would have made a lot of money. Now I have to build a case against them, because they say I was responsible for all the actions in my account. I’m responsible for what I buy, but I’m also responsible for the losses resulting from the actions they took, without my consent, without my knowledge. The only time I knew something was wrong was when they sold everything, starting with the position that incurred the losses, then everything I owned. Now I have nothing left and I need to take legal actions against a bank. They took everything like if it was theirs. I’m like David against Goliath!!! I have fun!!!

By: When Your Broker Account Has Problems

When Your Broker Account Has Problems — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:57:03 +0000

[...] sites like My Money Blog and The Consumerist wondered if it was a poorly thought out April Fool’s joke. Honestly, I [...]

By: No Joke: The Cost of a Truly Bad Idea « Collective Thinking

No Joke: The Cost of a Truly Bad Idea « Collective Thinking — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:32:30 +0000

[...] company that built a solid niche reputation for free online trades, that wasn’t the case with this craptacularly awful idea. Apparently, someone in promotions thought it would be a funny April Fool’s Day joke to [...]

By: Roundup - Rock Band Edition

Roundup - Rock Band Edition — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:55:28 +0000

[...] Zecco April Fools’ Day: Million Dollar Account Balances. I can’t believe a company would do something as dense as making customer accounts show having more than $1,000,000 – and make them live! Make a landing page, sure. Ha-ha. But actually allow people to trade with money they don’t have…that’s just irresponsible. [...]

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:53:36 +0000

Wow. I could understand if they used a fake landing page that redirected to an April Fool’s Day message when someone tried to execute a trade… but making it live? That’s just asking for a lawsuit.

And if it was a system glitch… well, that just lowers my opinion of them.

By: Best April Fool's Day Jokes 2009

Best April Fool's Day Jokes 2009 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:51:49 +0000

[...] you want to share, please leave a comment at the end of the article! Just found this one: Zecco April Fools’ Day: Million Dollar Account Balances. I can’t believe a company would do something as dense as making customer accounts show [...]

By: impossible is hard, sometimes mean | impossibilities

impossible is hard, sometimes mean | impossibilities — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:45:46 +0000

[...] the faux numbers and promptly began to spend the money. As with Slideshare, many were also outraged by this [...]

By: why god hates me » Worst April Fools Ever: Online Brokerage Zecco Pretends To Give Away Millions, Panics When People Start Spending [Fools]

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:21:04 +0000

[...] Zecco April Fools’ Day: Million Dollar Account Balances [My Money Blog] Woohoo! I’m a millionaire! Sorta. Maybe not [Zecco Forums] [...]

By: number13

number13 — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:49:18 +0000

Has it been confirmed that this was actually an april fools day joke as opposed to some sort of glitch? The comments on consumerist seem to lean away from it eing a prank.

By: meme

meme — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:14:21 +0000

I’d guess this was one of the Techs playing a joke on everyone rather than an ‘official’ april fool thing.

Does not make their security/accountability look very good if one employee can do that though.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:34:46 +0000

I had 13million buying power for the day and tested out a 5k trade… Executed. I couldn’t believe it. I was nervous but also thinking it was the opportunity of a lifetime to pull a Rothschild. I knew that they updated their accounts at 11am so I had 1.5 hours to make as much as possible. I emailed a couple of folks trying to get “hot” stock picks but no one had any. The stock I purchased for 5k started going down so I got scared and sold. I’m pretty sure I would have been able to keep all gains. I sure did get to keep all losses…

P.S. Don’t do what I did… Very very very dangerous…

By: Warren

Warren — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:32:09 +0000

I use the banks trading system for the reason of accountability and responsibility (Canadian bank). You get what you pay for. I sure wouldn’t pay for any Zecco services or trust them with my money. But then again they set a precedent so next time if the stock gains Zecco should pay. And why broker fee? Are the fees not because of a professional doing the actual trading? Broker doesn’t seem to be earning the fee on this one. That is one fee I would argue.

By: dave

dave — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:12:12 +0000

Once I logged onto my futures trading account and saw that it had gone up from about 5k to about 620k. I emailed my broker, saying that I was pleased with the performance of my account but now I would like to withdraw the money. He wrote back asking if I was going to give him a percentage. I replied 10%. The error was caused when I entered an S&P trade and somehow the close showed a Nasdaq figure. I have no idea how the contract was switched. I did not believe that there was any chance that I could take the money out of the account.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:29:11 +0000

This is a serious, serious issue. When it comes to money, you can’t joke around. Think about the liability that they’re causing themselves by doing this kind of feat. Whether it was a ‘system glitch’ or not.. That just removed every last drop of credibility and respectability in Zecco.

If one day, Scottrade showed their account holders having 1000x the buying power in their account, they’d be sued into the ground. Zecco is trash.

Whoever thought that stunt up, should be fired.

By: kitty

kitty — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:23:58 +0000

“I tried to switch from TD Ameritrade to Zecco a while ago. Their insanely cumbersome signup and initial funding process drove me away. I decided the headache wasn’t worth saving $9.99/trade the TD charges.”
I was considering switching, but I like TD Ameritrade. I think I’ll stick with them.

Personally, though, if I had millions “available for trading”, I’d call them and ask. I’d be afraid to trade it because it might mean I’d be borrowing money and may lose more money than I have.

By: Novista

Novista — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:09:40 +0000

Years ago, my account statement in Cincinnati with Fifth/Third Bank showed more money than it should. Hmmm. Yes, well, their rules cut both ways.

In the legal statement on the back, it clearly stated “If no error is reported within 30 days, the statement shall be considered valid.”

Should I have done their work for them? I didn’t touch that account and the next statement still indicated the wrong amount.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:41:30 +0000

Zecco sucks. I had an account there and the service and web-site are atrocious. Many times I couldn’t even log on. Better off going to a real broker and paying the commission.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:39:24 +0000

Brett and Carson,

I used to think my dividends were getting delayed, but then I realized that the payment date is often about a month after the ex-dividend date. Are you looking at the right date to determine the payment of your dividends?

By: Carson

Carson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:28:20 +0000

Brett,

I kind of feel the same way. I know I should have a dividend he3re or there but it real hard to look up in the system. Please post back if you find something back.

By: This Week in Review 3/29-3/2 | The Personal Finance Playbook

This Week in Review 3/29-3/2 | The Personal Finance Playbook — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:04:01 +0000

[...] Zecco April Fools Day @ My Money Blog – How would you feel if you woke up tomorrow and your brokerage account had 13 million dollars in it? Well, either because of a glitch in the system or a clever April Fool’s joke, some investors found that to be the case. One put in a trade for a million dollars worth of shares and it was executed! Find out what happens over at My Money Blog. [...]

By: Brett

Brett — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:20:51 +0000

I’ve had a Zecco account for several months now, and while I’m not as active with my trades since they raised the minimum for free trades, I also tend to have other problems with them from time to time. A current issue is that I’m not sure they’re paying me all of my dividends, and I thought I’d post this and see if anyone else might have noticed something similar. I still don’t believe they’ve paid me a dividend from a couple of months ago, and I’ve e-mailed them about it, and I have yet to get a response. I know that I got another dividend about a month after it should have posted once, so I thought maybe that happens sometimes, but I’m going to call and get upset with someone if they don’t respond. Anyone had any experiences like this?