Delays and Electronic Trading Capabilities

Customers may suffer market losses during periods of volatility in the price and volume of a particular stock when systems problems result in inability to place buy or sell orders. Customers trading on-line may have difficulty accessing their accounts due to high Internet traffic or because of systems capacity limitations.

High volumes of trading at the market opening or intra-day may cause delays in execution and executions at prices significantly away from the market price quoted or displayed at the time the order was entered.

As the volume has increased, market makers have found it necessary to take unusual steps in order to manage their risk in the marketplace, particularly in situations where one-sided order flow results in dramatic imbalances. As the flow of orders reaches market maker capacity, order execution firms routinely disable normal automatic execution systems, resorting to manual executions which result in delays in order execution. Delays in execution can result in orders being filled at prices that are in some cases significantly different from the expected price, often outstripping the investor's ability to pay. If you intend to participate in these markets, it is important that you take steps to protect yourself from unwanted surprises.