Trying to Understand Wide Divergence in Quotes Between Platforms

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Maddy
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Trying to Understand Wide Divergence in Quotes Between Platforms

Post by Maddy » Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:52 am

I'm hoping that someone can explain to me why, at any given time, the quotes on particular securities vary so dramatically between platforms.

I have money at Fidelity and Ameritrade and use both of those platforms to monitor what's going on in the market. This morning, I was (once again) stunned by the fact that while my Fidelity watchlist showed a sea of red and an overall loss on the day, the same securities on my Ameritrade watchlist were solidly in the green.

For instance, at about 6:40 PST this morning, VBR was showing a price of $154.23 and a negative loss on the day of -2.74%. At the same time, Ameritrade was showing a price of $158.97 and a gain on the day of +3.07%. How can this be?
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jalanlong
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Re: Trying to Understand Wide Divergence in Quotes Between Platforms

Post by jalanlong » Tue Mar 14, 2023 6:44 pm

Maddy wrote:
Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:52 am
I'm hoping that someone can explain to me why, at any given time, the quotes on particular securities vary so dramatically between platforms.

I have money at Fidelity and Ameritrade and use both of those platforms to monitor what's going on in the market. This morning, I was (once again) stunned by the fact that while my Fidelity watchlist showed a sea of red and an overall loss on the day, the same securities on my Ameritrade watchlist were solidly in the green.

For instance, at about 6:40 PST this morning, VBR was showing a price of $154.23 and a negative loss on the day of -2.74%. At the same time, Ameritrade was showing a price of $158.97 and a gain on the day of +3.07%. How can this be?
Could the Fidelity still have been showing the previous days quote? My broker (M1 Finance) does not do live quotes. Their quotes are 15 mins delayed. Therefore I cannot see a current stock quote for the morning until 8:45 am CST. So for 15 mins each morning from 8:30-8:44 I will still get the previous day's quote. I have heard that Robin Hood also does not offer live stock quotes.
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Maddy
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Re: Trying to Understand Wide Divergence in Quotes Between Platforms

Post by Maddy » Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:09 am

Thanks, Jalanlong. I think you're right.

I looked closely at Fidelity's numbers this morning (as detailed in its "Positions" section), and it does appear that it's showing yesterday's data until about 9:45 EST. Even after that time, market prices are delayed significantly, so if you're interested in intraday moves as I often am, you really need to pull up the actual bid and ask prices to have any idea what's going on. Guess I'll just stick with Ameritrade for my market watching.

Thanks for helping me out!
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