Placing market orders after hours can be risky for that very reason. A lot can happen outside of normal trading hours, and prices can be significantly higher or lower than the previous day's closing price. For example, a major news story, national or world event, or some other factor affecting a particular company or industry may cause stock prices to rise or fall.

One option to consider is placing a limit order instead of a market order. If you specify your buy or sell price, you will not be surprised with a transaction you weren't expecting. But, the downside is that your order execution isn't guaranteed with a limit order because the stock may not reach the price you specified.

Brett Schulte
Scottrade Active Trader Product Specialist

Answer:

TJJ,

We have several ways for you to learn more about ScottradeELITE. First, I highly recommend our ScottradeELITE webcasts, which can be found at http://www.scottrade.com/MediaContent/WebCast.asp.

These webcasts allow you to see the basics of any given ELITE window. Scottrade has also done some advanced podcasts to allow Scottrade clients to find more ways to use the tools provided by ScottradeELITE.

In addition to webcasts, Scottrade has a demo version of ScottradeELITE. This virtual trading experience allows you to try the program out without risking any of your hard-earned money.

The third item I'd like to mention is the ScottradeELITE tutorial, available from http://www.scottradeelite.com. This tutorial walks clients through each ScottradeELITE window, showing you how to use the product.

The last item I'd like to point out is the Knowledge Center. For ScottradeELITE-specific Knowledge Center content, you can either left click on the question mark in the upper right hand corner of any ScottradeELITE window, or left click on the Help menu at the top of the main ScottradeELITE window and then left click on Knowledge Center.

I hope these tools give you a good foundation for working with and understanding ScottradeELITE.

Brett Schulte
Scottrade Active Trader Product Specialist

GHT,

ScottradeELITE does allow clients the ability to quickly place trades using the keyboard. We call this feature Hot Keys.

To access Hot Key setup, open ScottradeELITE, left click on System in the menu at the top of the screen, and left click on Hot Key Setup. Once the Hot Key Setup screen is open, you can see what the default Hot Keys will do. Holding down the Control, Shift and F2 keys at the same time, for instance, will cause an Order Entry window to open up that is already prefilled to a Market Order, and the Sell button ishighlighted for you to left click. In addition to placing orders, you may also open various windows within ScottradeELITE. As you can see from the screen shot above, these include Chart windows, Level II windows, Full Quote windows and others.

You can also customize the existing alerts or add new alerts to the list. I would like to show you how to add your own custom alert as a part of the answer to your initial question. Left click on the Add button at the bottom of the window. The window below will appear.

In the Action Type drop-down menu, select Stock Order Entry. Market Side, Quantity and Order Type, which had all previously been grayed out, should now be available to change. Choose the market side, quantity and order you wish to use. When you are finished customizing the Hot Key parameters to your satisfaction, left click on OK. The window will disappear, and your new Hot Key will appear at the bottom of the list in the Hot Key Setup window. The Hot Key will be highlighted at this time. Simply press the key combination you wish to use, and you will lock in that key combination for the particular order action.

Brett Schulte
Scottrade Active Trader Product Specialist

WTS,

This is a question we hear a lot at Scottrade. The answer is almost always yes, but the way to get this to happen differs quite a bit from computer to computer.

The most common way to maximize ScottradeELITE across multiple monitors is to first make sure the program is not already maximized on one monitor. Look just to the left of the X in the upper right hand corner of the ScottradeELITE window. If you see two small overlapping squares, ScottradeELITE is already maximized in one window. Left click once to make the ScottradeELITE window smaller. Then left click and hold on the ScottradeELITE window's title bar and move the window to the far upper left hand corner of your monitor system. At this point, move your mouse over the bottom right corner of the ScottradeELITE window. You should see your mouse pointer change to two arrows pointing in opposite directions. When you see this, left click and hold, and then move your mouse down and to the right until all monitors are covered by the ScottradeELITE window.

In some cases, the above method will not work. This is because your multiple monitor system uses software which does not support the hold and drag method of expanding a window. In these cases, please consult the manual or Web site for your particular multi-monitor software for the alternative method they use.

Brett Schulte
Scottrade Active Trader Product Specialist

Dear R.G.,

Many Scottrade clients ask if they are able to export ScottradeELITE chart data to Microsoft Excel since by default the information is saved in a text file. Luckily, ScottradeELITE chart data CAN be viewed and saved in Microsoft Excel. Here's how to do so, once you have a chart window open within ScottradeELITE with the data on your screen:

1. Left click on the Tools button along the top of the Chart window.
2. Left click on Export Chart Data. A "Save As..." dialog window will appear.
3. In the "File name:" field, type in the name you want the file to have FOLLOWED BY ".csv". For example, I would type in "brett.csv" in the "File name:" field to name my file.
4. Make sure you are saving the file to where you want it on your computer and left click on the "Save" button.
5. Double left click on the new file you created in Step 4, and you should see your chart data in Microsoft Excel.

So why does this work? It works because the chart data information which ScottradeELITE outputs is in a comma-delimited format. Choosing to save this information as a .csv (comma delimited) file allows it to be read and formatted correctly within Microsoft Excel without any work on your part.

Brett Schulte
Scottrade Active Trader Product Specialist

Dear S.G.,

Thank you for the question. We actually added this function to the chart window with our latest upgrade. Customers can now add a new plot window within the same chart. The new window will populate just below the main window.

To add a symbol to a new plot window, type +(symbol) in the symbol entry field in the chart window. See the example here:

View Graphic

The above example will result in the following chart window:

View Graphic

You can also add multiple symbols to a new plot window by typing +(symbol,symbol). See the example here:

View Graphic

The above example will result in the following chart window:

View Graphic

Again, thank you for the question. We hope you enjoy this new feature within ScottradeELITE!

Justin Gunderson
Active Trader Product Specialist at Scottrade

Any specific securities, types of securities, or research tools mentioned or shown are for demonstrative purposes only. Investors should not construe such information as investment advice.

Dear R.C.,

Thank you. I am glad to hear you found them helpful.

We received several similar requests for a "library" of Quick Tips and articles. There is not one place where you can view all the Quick Tips together. However, the newsletter will be going through a redesign to improve the functionality and archiving of the articles. Part of the redesign is to better organize the Quick Tips so you can easily search through all of them.

You can use the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the newsletter to view other issues and other Quick Tips. Below are some Quick Tips we have provided in past newsletters that readers have found especially helpful.

Sincerely,

Jesse Pettis
Customer Education Specialist at Scottrade

Dear BG,

Great question! Scottrade is now hosting local educational seminars in many branches across the country. The seminars are FREE and focus on a variety of topics including an Overview of ScottradeELITE, an Introduction to Order Types and a Beginning and Intermediate Options seminar, just to name a few. Each seminar lasts about one hour and includes a question and answer period.

Registering for a seminar is easy:

- Go to www.scottrade.com (before you log into your account)

- Click the "Knowledge Center" tab at the top of the page

- From this page, you can search for seminars by city, zip code or topic category

- Once you find a seminar that interests you, click on the seminar title to register

All seminars are FREE and held at various times throughout the week. So go online today and find a seminar that interests you! You can also call your local branch office to register.

Kristin McDougall
Manager of Customer Education at Scottrade

Dear Trader,

Thank you for asking! Yes there is. Trade-Ideas™ Backtest is a strategy-based backtesting tool rather than a symbol-based backtesting tool. This means you are testing how specific Trade-Ideas strategies will do in the current market environment.

As we all know, especially in light of recent events, the market can change rapidly, causing strategies which worked only a short time ago to be less than ideal today. For this reason, our backtesting tool goes back 15 days, giving you a current look at how your strategy would have done.

Brett Schulte
ScottradeELITE Product Specialist and Active Trader Services at Scottrade

Dear F.C.,

You are probably setting them up properly, but there a few things that might help you understand them a little better. When set up and used properly, ScottradeELITE price alerts can be a powerful tool for investors.

When setting up an alert in ScottradeELITE, be aware that in most cases you should use only one rule per alert. Many clients make the mistake of setting up multiple rules in an alert, only to find that the conditions for ALL rules must be satisfied before an alert is displayed.

Using the equals sign when setting up a rule can also cause issues. If you set an alert to trigger when the last equals a certain price, if that specific price is skipped, the alert will not trigger. It is much better to use the greater than or less than signs when creating price alerts.

I hope this helps clarify how the alerts work so you can take full advantage of them.

Brett Schulte
Active Trader Services & ScottradeELITE Product Specialist at Scottrade