Facebook IPO

I find it hard to believe that normal E-Trade customers trading relatively small accounts will have equal access, let alone any access, to getting in on this IPO when bigger traders are competing for a piece of something that will be in short/limited supply.

Well, read the article, that was exactly the point to let RETAIL customers of E-Trade (and ONLY E-Trade!) to participate in IPO.

Originally Posted by Nervous

Well, yeah, it is not guaranteed that you'll get the shares, but you still may put an order.

So hypothetically, if I were to open up an account today, I'd be an E-Trade customer. Come next week, I can put in an order - although not guaranteed to get shares - but still eligible, with no minimum account requirement?

It seems unlikely, but I wouldn't mind giving them a call to find out the exact requirements. If not for Facebook IPO, then for other IPOs in the future.

Originally Posted by Nervous

Well, read the article, that was exactly the point to let RETAIL customers of E-Trade (and ONLY E-Trade!) to participate in IPO.

It's not only E-Trade that will let retail customers participate in the IPO. At TDAmeritrade you just need a $250k account or to have made 30 trades in the past three months to be eligible to participate in the IPO. Fidelitiy requires a $500k account.

E-Trade is just "another" brokerage which is offering the IPO to retail customers. They will have their own private rules to determine who is eligible and you can be fairly sure those rules will include a minimum account size as part of their criteria.

Most brokerages also have a minimum hold time for those who invest in an IPO and will exclude you from future IPO offerings if you do not adhere to those as well, just as an FYI.

I meant particularly the Facebook IPO. So, only E-trade offers Facebook IPO for retail customers. Accounts with 250k are not retail in my understanding.

Originally Posted by sladha

So hypothetically, if I were to open up an account today, I'd be an E-Trade customer. Come next week, I can put in an order - although not guaranteed to get shares - but still eligible, with no minimum account requirement?

It seems unlikely, but I wouldn't mind giving them a call to find out the exact requirements. If not for Facebook IPO, then for other IPOs in the future.

I don't know these kind of details. I just know that I got the invitation in email and my friend already put an order for that (I'll pass). And this is one time deal between E-Trade and Facebook to offer 'retail IPO', nobody guarantee that E-Trade will offer something like that for future IPOs....

Retail accounts generally refer to any individual investor accounts of only their personal money with a total worth of under $1 million per the SEC guidance on identifying brokerage accounts.

Fine, but still E-Trade doesn't have any limits on size of the account (at least explicitly) unlike other brokers like AmeriTrade.

You can't trust a large company with no debt.

so whos buying?

Well, it is tempting.... Most likely the stock will go up from the IPO price ($34-$38) to $45-$50 on the first day.... To buy or not to buy?....

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

this is so true
so much money is "made" just being a middle man in trades of imaginary papers...
how do you create actual wealth just doing that? as soon as people lose confidence in the market... plop
down it goes

Originally Posted by Big Rick

I agree... But unfortunately a lot of things these days are based upon popularity instead of production.

They will raise a crapload of money then tank HUGE. Wait until their next big security flaw comes out... And it will.

Originally Posted by Nervous

Well, it is tempting.... Most likely the stock will go up from the IPO price ($34-$38) to $45-$50 on the first day.... To buy or not to buy?....

My guess is that the best days of FB are behind them. It is already facing a back lash in the US although it is still popular overseas. But MySpace was popular too, and so was AOL. Something better will come along and replace it. GM pulled their advertising from FB today because no one was clicking on their advertising space. Is that an aberration or a sign of the future ? Who knows but the stock market keeps dropping every day. Bad signs for an IPO.

Ffn

Huh?

Originally Posted by maine325xi

Ffn

Originally Posted by Nervous

Huh?

FFN is Friendfinder Network. I guess its cool if you need a date.

FB is Facebook, initial pricing is 38.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=FB&ql=0


I wonder how it will do.

There is an awful lot of hype for the stock.

Any predictions ?

Originally Posted by Nervous

I meant particularly the Facebook IPO. So, only E-trade offers Facebook IPO for retail customers. Accounts with 250k are not retail in my understanding.

A lot of custodial firms are requiring 500k minimum, and yes, retail brokerage accounts can have that kind of money in them. Active day traders use retail accounts all the time, however when you have that kind of money to play with and you are a big time trader, clearly you better have a good tax advisor to back you up if your money isn't in a managed (non-retail) account.

Originally Posted by Raymond42262

FFN is Friendfinder Network. I guess its cool if you need a date.

FB is Facebook, initial pricing is 38.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=FB&ql=0


I wonder how it will do.

There is an awful lot of hype for the stock.

FFN bought 50k shares at .99 on Monday will sell tomorrow at 2.50

Originally Posted by Raymond42262

Any predictions ?

It will open at 50 tomorrow. In first month it will be around 60.

Im in to see who gets in on this. Who has it for the layman like us.. Just e-trade? Schwab, Fidelity, UBS??