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Posted December 09, 2008 (03:58PM)
what do unsettled funds mean?
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Posted December 09, 2008 (05:32PM)
It may help to think of it like a check clearing the bank. When you sell a stock even though your account may be credited, the money is not fully availble yet. When you initially fund your account you can buy anytime, you can sell anytime however the money from the sale will go into your account as unsettled for 3 days (trade day +3 business days). You can buy something else with that money even though the funds are not settled however you can't sell what you buy with unsettled funds until the funds are settled. If you sell on Monday, you'll have to wait until Thursday to sell anything you buy with those funds. Perhaps it takes time for Tradeking to collect the funds of the sale that they performed on your behalf. This is a federal regulation, not a Tradeking thing so don't be mad at them. I'm very new to this game and I learned this the hard way. I bought something at the right time but with unsettled funds and once the funds settled the right time to sell had come and gone and now I'm sitting on something waiting for the right time to sell to come around again. Don't buy anything with unsettled funds if you are day trading. Hope this helps. |
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Posted December 10, 2008 (02:35AM)
It takes three business days for money from either a buy or a sell to clear.
If you have a cash account, withou tmargins, you cannot sell stock you purchase for three days. If you sell that stock, the funds can be used to purchase strock, but not for withdrawls until three business days. I may stand corrected with the purchase of stock using unsettled funds, this might vary depending on the brokers policy...you might want to call Trade King about it. If you have a margin account, the only need to observe fund settlement is in the event you plan to withdraw cash, you have to wait three business days from the last sale of stock to withdraw. Margin basically means credit, the broker is loaning you money for trades so you don't have to wait for settlement. |
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Posted December 10, 2008 (02:51AM)
Incubus is correct with the exception of one point. If you have a cash account you can sell any stock purchased with SETTLED funds anytime you like and only need to wait the three days when using unsettled funds to purchase it.
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Posted December 10, 2008 (04:32AM)
I said it:
"I may stand corrected with the purchase of stock using unsettled funds, this might vary depending on the brokers policy...you might want to call Trade King about it." I know you can purchase stock using unsettled funds with other brokers, but not aware if thats an industry standard or just the other brokers I use. Looks like it might be an industry standard. |
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Posted December 10, 2008 (12:06PM)
Thanks for the help, no after hours trading in TK?
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Posted December 10, 2008 (06:24PM)
you can avoid the unsettled fund thing altogether...
just make sure you always have a minimum of $2000.00 in your account. tradeking will match that amount (margin), making your buying power $4000.00. then, only trade a max of $1000.00 per day, long or short. you should notice that you receive that annoying "regulation T" message less, if not ever. take care |
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Posted December 14, 2008 (12:12AM)
packer...After Hours is available by using the Trading menu along the top and is located right under the Stock + ETF's menu item there as Extra Hours.
There are some special circumstances for Extra Hours trading, like no market orders, only limit orders and the limit order is cancelled at the end of the extra hours session you are trading in if not executed. Be sure and read up on all of them in the TK help section or contact TK Support if you have any questions before trading so you don't get surprised by anything. |
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