Excessive clearing fees

[hillfronter83]

Has anybody ever been charged some illiquidity fee for trading OTC stocks by a broker? I was administered a $300 fee for a trade worth about $6500 by Options House. They claim it's a fee charged by clearing house. Although it's "disclosed" on their website, most people would probably not notice it. I was not notified before the trade since the trade preview only shows commission. You can imagine that I'm really pissed!

 

I checked SEC website and found this https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ib_brokersmiscfees.html:

While many brokers do not charge customers miscellaneous fees associated with a transaction, those that do may charge widely differing amounts.  Some firms have charged different fees based on the branch office where the account is held and some firms have charged different fees to different customers.

 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined five brokers in 2011 for routinely charging excessive handling fees of between $65 and $99 a trade.  Because these fees were far in excess of the brokers’ actual costs, FINRA found that the fees were actually disguised commissions that were not adequately disclosed.

 

I'll definitely fight this. Just want to check if any board member had similar experience.

[EricSchleien]

That's really fucked up. I've traded illiquid stocks before and never once in my life have had a surprise fee in any amount. This past week I was 100% of the volume for a stock and Interactive Brokers went so far as to call the exchange I was buying on to allow me to buy more. All with no extra fees.

[hillfronter83]

That's really fucked up. I've traded illiquid stocks before and never once in my life have had a surprise fee in any amount. This past week I was 100% of the volume for a stock and Interactive Brokers went so far as to call the exchange I was buying on to allow me to buy more. All with no extra fees.

 

This is a stock not traded on IB, which is the reason I used Options House. The thing is the trade will not make sense had I known about the fee.