Vanguard order "In Progress"

[Hitch]

This afternoon, before 4pm Eastern Time, I placed a simple Sell order in my Vanguard Brokerage account.

The order status remained "In Progress" after 6pm ET, so I called Vanguard and asked why. The rep said not to worry, I'd see the status update by midnight ET.

Now it's almost 3am ET, and I've been checking on that "In Progress" trade all evening. A couple of minutes ago, the trade vanished from the Order Status page online, and there is no trace of it anywhere.

I trade very, very rarely, so I'm alarmed to see the trade disappear from the Order Status page. Is this normal?

[rossington]

This afternoon, before 4pm Eastern Time, I placed a simple Sell order in my Vanguard Brokerage account.

The order status remained "In Progress" after 6pm ET, so I called Vanguard and asked why. The rep said not to worry, I'd see the status update by midnight ET.

Now it's almost 3am ET, and I've been checking on that "In Progress" trade all evening. A couple of minutes ago, the trade vanished from the Order Status page online, and there is no trace of it anywhere.

I trade very, very rarely, so I'm alarmed to see the trade disappear from the Order Status page. Is this normal?

We don't know what the sell order was for but...relax it does take some time...it will be fine. Did you check your Transaction History?

[Hitch]

Thank you. I'm very grateful. It is indeed in the Transaction History.

I apologize for troubling everyone with my panic. I don't do this enough to know the ropes.

[Wiggums]

I don’t think that the midnight timeframe is correct. Your sell order will get processed since it is showing in the transaction history. Individual stocks have a different settlement time than mutual funds.

[celia]

As Vanguard gains more customers, the number of accounts, mailings, and phone calls increase. Combine that with people being sick, working from home, and anxious to get their tax forms. Then you can understand why things are taking longer than they used to.

[bondsr4me]

As Vanguard gains more customers, the number of accounts, mailings, and phone calls increase. Combine that with people being sick, working from home, and anxious to get their tax forms. Then you can understand why things are taking longer than they used to.

+1….sounds reasonable to me.

[LadyGeek]

No human ever touches those transactions (unless you ask for assistance). It's simply a matter of Vanguard delaying the account updates by a day or so.

As long as the transaction appears in the Transaction History, you're fine. Take a look at the transaction and you'll see two dates - Settlement Date and Trade Date.

Click on the Settlement Date for the details. The trade doesn't become "official" until the settlement date. After that, maybe a day later, the transaction will show up in a Quicken download.

For additional insight, take a look at the account's settlement fund. Purchases and redemptions go through the settlement fund. Click on the "Total credits and debits" link to see the transaction activity. Allow another day for that to settle out - the trade activity will eventually go back to 0.00.

[livesoft]

Vanguard is well known for lagging on updates, so if this is problem for anyone then they should avoid Vanguard and switch to a vendor that provides essentially real-time updates of what is going on with their money.

[260chrisb]

This afternoon, before 4pm Eastern Time, I placed a simple Sell order in my Vanguard Brokerage account.

The order status remained "In Progress" after 6pm ET, so I called Vanguard and asked why. The rep said not to worry, I'd see the status update by midnight ET.

Now it's almost 3am ET, and I've been checking on that "In Progress" trade all evening. A couple of minutes ago, the trade vanished from the Order Status page online, and there is no trace of it anywhere.

I trade very, very rarely, so I'm alarmed to see the trade disappear from the Order Status page. Is this normal?

My experience is that it takes a couple days for the transaction to be completed. I may not really understand how it works but if a fund trades at its NAV and I transacted an order when the market was closed my assumption is that they receive the order and process it for purchase when the market is open but can't buy it until it's NAV is established at the end of the day. I've never checked to see if I actually buy it at the price listed at the time of the transaction or at a different price a day or so later when it's posted. The next time I buy shares I'll do this. If that's not the case are there shares available at the price listed when the markets is closed? Of course on a separate note; provided the market is open you can alleviate this delay with an ETF for whatever reason you have to see the transaction happen quickly.

[LadyGeek]

Vanguard is well known for lagging on updates, so if this is problem for anyone then they should avoid Vanguard and switch to a vendor that provides essentially real-time updates of what is going on with their money.

Caution on that statement, as you are implying that money is instantly moved around. The trade is just the first step of the process. The rest of the process is only done at certain times of the day. Other brokerages have similar delays. For example, my taxable account transactions at Fidelity: Re: Fidelity Total Market in taxable - FZROX (ZERO) vs. FSKAX (Total Market) SmackDown (refers to transactions at Fidelity - not Vanguard)

...Once you sell mutual fund it prices at 530 pm, liquidates at 830pm and shows up next morning as pending cash. Within 24-48 hours it will show up in your core position, but is usually available for transfer or trade at about 24 hours...

At issue here is that Vanguard is delaying the update of your account much longer than you'd expect. Issues with their website can be discussed in Vanguard Website.

Update: Clarified that Ferdinand2014 is referring to transactions at Fidelity.

[Ferdinand2014]

Vanguard is well known for lagging on updates, so if this is problem for anyone then they should avoid Vanguard and switch to a vendor that provides essentially real-time updates of what is going on with their money.

Caution on that statement, as you are implying that money is instantly moved around. The trade is just the first step of the process. The rest of the process is only done at certain times of the day. Other brokerages have similar delays. For example, my taxable account transactions at Fidelity: Re: Fidelity Total Market in taxable - FZROX (ZERO) vs. FSKAX (Total Market) SmackDown

...Once you sell mutual fund it prices at 530 pm, liquidates at 830pm and shows up next morning as pending cash. Within 24-48 hours it will show up in your core position, but is usually available for transfer or trade at about 24 hours...

At issue here is that Vanguard is delaying the update of your account much longer than you'd expect. Issues with their website can be discussed in Vanguard Website.

I was referring to Fidelity. I do not have any experience at Vanguard.

[LadyGeek]

^^^Sorry about that. I have clarified my post.

[GerryL]

Something I learned after stressing about whether Vanguard sold stock shares from the lots I specified: Give it a couple of days before you check.

The system seems to automatically show the shares coming out of the combined non-covered lot, even though I had Vanguard document the non-covered lots based on my records and specified the lots in my order. So when I log in immediately after I get confirmation that the order was executed, I am likely to see my cost basis list showing the shares coming from the wrong lot. I wait a couple of days before checking, and the list is correct. If not, then I call.