I bought Facebook with a limit order when it went on sale to the general public last Friday, and I can confirm it was a terrible experience. Here's basically what happened:
I put in a limit order through tdameritrade the night before with a max price of $44. I'm in front of the computer that morning to watch my order when the IPO starts. The price spikes up to 45, then treads around low 40s. I refresh my account. My limit order has not gone through. I wait AN HOUR. Still, it has not gone through so I cancel it. Now it says, "Pending Cancellation." It remains "Pending Cancellation" for over an hour, so I try to call tdameritrade, but their lines are completely backed up with calls. Finally, the system suddenly reports that my order was accepted and I bought Facebook at 42. It's only an hour from market close by the time I see this. What this meant for me and most everyone else was that I was locked out of the market for the first 2 hours after IPO and my assets were frozen. I could neither buy nor sell. I don't think we can really know what the impact of this was on the market, but it certainly didn't instill short term confidence in the Facebook IPO and I think it definitely decreased the volume on the stock.
I'm not going to defend everything the guy said, but I do believe that NASDAQ botched the IPO badly and it may be a few months before we know what the market really values Facebook at. There may even be permanent damage done to Facebook's reputation.
I put in a limit order through tdameritrade the night before with a max price of $44. I'm in front of the computer that morning to watch my order when the IPO starts. The price spikes up to 45, then treads around low 40s. I refresh my account. My limit order has not gone through. I wait AN HOUR. Still, it has not gone through so I cancel it. Now it says, "Pending Cancellation." It remains "Pending Cancellation" for over an hour, so I try to call tdameritrade, but their lines are completely backed up with calls. Finally, the system suddenly reports that my order was accepted and I bought Facebook at 42. It's only an hour from market close by the time I see this. What this meant for me and most everyone else was that I was locked out of the market for the first 2 hours after IPO and my assets were frozen. I could neither buy nor sell. I don't think we can really know what the impact of this was on the market, but it certainly didn't instill short term confidence in the Facebook IPO and I think it definitely decreased the volume on the stock.
I'm not going to defend everything the guy said, but I do believe that NASDAQ botched the IPO badly and it may be a few months before we know what the market really values Facebook at. There may even be permanent damage done to Facebook's reputation.