Suggestions for rejected orders

[SirCaesar (Cesare G. A.)]

In the past days, I have had a few orders rejected (one “sell” and two “buy”). This was unpleasant.

I know Freetrade aims to reduce the number of rejected orders to basically none in the end, but I think that there will always be a small percentage of rejected orders, especially for basic ones (all executed in the same time window, so if something goes slightly wrong around those times a lot of investors are going to see a rejection). So, why not make this process better?

1. We need to get a notification. Yes, it is unpleasant, and yes, we all love positive notifications. But it is easy to overlook rejection of an order when it is just in the activity feed (and maybe you were buying shares of a company you already have in the portfolio!) and only to realize later. A single notification, -bzzzzt- your order of Company Inc. was rejected - would fix this entirely.

2. We need a “reschedule” button. Order rejected? No problem: reschedule for tomorrow. From the activity feed, you click a button and you can choose to re-commit the same amount of cash (when available) to the same stock. This improves user experience a lot, and negates most of the “negative feelings” about rejected orders because you don’t have to do the whole process all over again.
   As a bonus, this could be done in a different time window. Maybe rescheduled rejected orders can be placed every day at 2pm (or any other time) for free? Or maybe 8am? (market opening)

Moreover, developers could include a small (?) button in the reschedule window: why was my order rejected? Basically every user has no idea of this being a possibility, and it’s scary. This way they could click the (?) button, feel safe and happy again and reschedule in one (or two) taps.

[SamD (Samuel)]

Think this is a great idea. Have had two rejected orders for the same ETF on consecutive days. Understand this happens but would be good to be notified ASAP especially as other basic orders went through.

[Rollingskies]

This is a class idea. Indeed it is the only negative experience on freetrade and it is kinda ignored. I was speaking to someone new and she was a bit disappointed to say the least and wondered why she had been rejected. I explained it wasnt her etc. Having a forum post or a FAQ isnt enough and most people actually wont see it. The rejection feels personal. I’d prefer it was renamed maybe call it failed instead of rejection?

[Piggy (Marcus)]

The suggestions are great, I particularly like the reschedule button idea. It seems from people’s feedback that a better word for ‘rejected’ is ‘unsuccessful’ as it takes out ‘blame’ somewhat from the user. Just a more neutral word to say the same thing.

[jani]

Thanks for the suggestions! We know that the current experience is not ideal and we are working on making this better for everyone. In fact, we are about to start testing notifications to notify successful and unsuccessful basic orders We hope to have this live within the next couple of days and we hope this will solve some pain points

[gl196]

Would it also be possible to include a brief description of why the order is rejected?

[SirCaesar (Cesare G. A.)]

I just got the notifications for my basic orders being accepted. That’s… crazy! Thank you guys!

[Ian]

Great minds

[ukcz]

Just allocate more than is needed. If the ETF costs £152 and you’re doing a basic order then allocate £156 in case it grows

[SirCaesar (Cesare G. A.)]

This advice only makes sense when you are buying a single stock, as in most cases (when you’re buying multiple stocks) it should just buy one less, so if a rejection happens there are other causes.

[ukcz]

It does buy one less

[ashleypoole]

+1 great ideas!

[engineer]

Repost for those who aren’t aware and may be confused.

Order rejection - part of “best execution”, so it’s really the users who are getting protected.

Stated as zero-fee investing but actually £8 more expensive on £1000 then my current Broker!

Like most stockbrokers in the UK, we do execute orders through the RSP network. Here’s how that works - As we explained in today’s blog post - Sometimes trades can get rejected because the price quotes we get back from the market makers aren’t good enough based on the observable prices against big orders on the LSE order book. This is part of our commitment to best execution, a regulatory requirement for execution-only brokers. So hopefully this isn’t a cause for concern.

[kennethmac2000 (Kenneth MacArthur)]

I’m glad we’re being protected against rip-off prices, but I have three explicit suggestions to make the rejection process better (some of which duplicate suggestions made by others on this thread):

1. Provide an explanation for the rejection in the app, even if it’s the same explanation every time
2. Provide a one-click “Resubmit” option - like relist on eBay
3. In the notification, provide as much detail about the order as possible, rather than just a generic message - ie, “Your order for X was rejected”

[littlefinger (GT 😷)]

May be if orders are rejected multiple times, display warning that that might not execute.
Happened today and few weeks ago with PHSP.
And in this case they are all instant orders

[Antidev]

Now that we have the new invest platform, I think FT should rejig the basic order into a basic window.

Eg. Make instant orders between 3-4pm free and any basic orders get queued to the next available window.

[littlefinger (GT 😷)]

Contacted customer care but information I got is not really usable.
One reason, PHSP is volatile, I don’t think it is, atleast it is less volatile thatn TSLA
No concrete reason for my order failure was given, just pointed to order execution policy and other post on order rejection.

Can anyone find reason for my order failure?
should I have split the order etc?