Is this normal?

[dhamack]

On Tuesday evening I placed an order with Sharebuilder to purchase shares of Zillow. I was quoted $24/share and had enough liquidity in my account to cover up to $28/share for the amount I was looking at. Unfortunately I made a big mistake in placing the order when I forgot to set a Buy Limit at $28.

I awoke Wednesday afternoon to find out that the trade executed at $60/share and nearly had a stroke. I have a hard time believing that the first chance they had to execute the deal was during the absolute intra-day high.

My question: Is it legal for a broker to execute a trade that would overdraw my account? I don't have a margin account set up.

I got absolutely creamed on this and realize a big part of it was my stupid mistake, but executing a trade at over 2x the quoted price just seems wrong if the person doesn't have the cash to back it up.

[shipdit]

No. You are gambling, rather than investing. Your failure to specify a maximum price you were willing to pay (limit order) cost you dearly on this newly traded security.

The five-day chart of trades and volume indicates that you may have to inquire from the broker who handled your (market) buy order as to why you appeared to be ripped off by $25 per share:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor...ocookie=1&SZ=0

SD

.