YC-backed Alpaca Trading blocks buy orders on popular stocks

[NiekvdMaas]

I just received this email:

===

Dear Alpaca Client,

Effective immediately, the following symbols:

AMC - AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. BB - BlackBerry Ltd. EXPR - Express, Inc. GME - GameStop Corp. KOSS - Koss Corporation NAKD - Naked Brand Groups Ltd NOK - Nokia Oyj

will se set to 'closing only' order status. You will only be able to submit orders to close out any open positions you have in these symbols. New opening orders will not be accepted at this time.

Please note that there might also be additional securities added to this restriction list before market close today. Additional messages may follow.

Should you have any questions or issues liquidating any of the above securities, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support team: support@alpaca.markets.

Thank you, Alpaca Team

[NiekvdMaas]

They kind of rolled it back now:

===

Effective immediately, the following conditions apply to these stocks:

No longer restricted to ‘closing only’ status; you now have the ability to buy and sell.

100% margin maintenance requirement.

No short sales allowed.

[simplemen → NiekvdMaas]

A lot of broker restricted and then rolled back. Some brokers like Tastyworks said it wasn't their choice but their clearing house was restricting.

The damage is done already and no granutee that this won't happen again.

[__shedlife__]

Block has been lifted. We are back baby! https://imgur.com/q7E5Dda Good on the Alpaca team for changing their mind and doing the right thing.

[__shedlife__]

Emailed them to see if they give a reasonable answer, smells like Robinhood :/

[__shedlife__ → __shedlife__]

https://imgur.com/P7BJcZm

Guess we know who they work for...