Trader Responsibilities
Clients must be familiar with the following responsibilities and must agree to follow all Regulatory and Exchange rules:
* Account Review: It is always the clients responsibility to review their account daily, through Penson Financial Services (the clearing firm) at their website https://online.penson.com/ and compare the information shown there versus the information displayed on the trading software. If there is any discrepancy of any kind, including but not limited to, current equity, buying power, or positions the client must contact Stock USA Investments prior to acting on any information that does not match. Also if you ever believe for any reason that anything is incorrect in your account, please make sure you always contact us before acting. If a client acts before contacting us to verify the validity of their account information, any issues that arise as a result of not reviewing their information or contacting our firm in a timely manner will be solely the clients responsibility.
* Stock Splits and Symbol Changes: It is the clients responsibility to notify Stock USA Investments if they hold any stock that has either a forward or reverse stock split and/or if any stock they own has a symbol change of any kind. The trading software will NOT automatically adjust for these changes. The client will need to contact us and we will manually adjust their trading software to reflect these changes.
* Short Sales: The term 'short sale' means any sale of a security, which the seller does not own, or any sale, which is consummated by the delivery of a security, borrowed by, or for the account of the seller. For stocks hard to borrow, short sales must be preceded by a request to Stock USA Investments to make sure stocks can be borrowed. We will then contact Penson Financial Services's Stock Loan Department to ensure the availability of the stock. If approval is granted by Penson Stock Loan Department, Stock USA Investments will inform you that the stock can be sold short. If approval is not received, the security in question cannot be shorted. If you short a stock that has not been located, the transaction may be cancelled and you will be responsible for any losses incurred. Short sales made on stocks not located will result in a buy-in. All trades that violate these rules will be put into Stock USA Investments error account. All losses will be charged back to your account. You will not receive any profit from these trades as they are illegally gained. Repeated violations of these rules can result in your account being closed. Assuming the security in question can be shorted, the short sale must take place as 'sell short'. If the trader uses a sell to place a short sale or over-sells a position, it is possible that the trade will be executed illegally. This is a violation of FINRA and SEC rules. The trader is responsible to cover any illegal position immediately with a corresponding buy. These corrections must be reported via e-mail to Stock USA Investments at the end of the trading day.
* Margin: There are 2 types of margin available - Overnight (2:1) and Day Trading (4:1). Overnight buying power is limited to two times the equity at the end of the preceding day. Overnight positions held above two times available equity will result in a federal margin call. You may have up to 3 business days to cover an overnight call by either sending in new funds for the amount of the call or liquidating positions to meet the call. If you liquidate positions to meet this call, your account may be restricted or closed. If you do not cover the amount of the call when due, Stock USA Investments will liquidate your position.
Day Trading buying power is applied to stocks that you day trade (buy and sell in the same day). For margin accounts with equity above $25,000, the margin is set at 4:1 and there is no limit on the number of day trades that can be made. Note that overnight positions still must not exceed 2:1. For accounts under $25,000, there is a limit of 3 day trades per 5 business day period. Overnight positions are not affected by this limitation. If you violate this rule, your account may be restricted or closed. It is the client responsibility to abide by these rules. The electronic order entry software systems provided to you by Stock USA Investments cannot do this on your behalf.
Buying power figures are set at the beginning of the day and generally will not be increased for the remainder of the day (covering overnight positions may not increase these numbers). When you have overnight positions your available buying power will generally be computed as follows: 30% of short positions and 25% of long positions, minus both figures from your equity and double what is left over. These percentages may be subject to change or differ by stock.
You will receive a margin call if you go over your day trading buying power at any point during the day. This day trading call must be met with cash only within seven business days. If you do not meet your day trading buying power call, Penson Financial Services will CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT.
Stock USA Investments will generally attempt to contact you about any margin calls you may receive. This may be an e-mail notification from us pertaining to the margin calls, so please make sure you review your e-mails everyday. All margin rules must be strictly adhered to. Please be aware that Stock USA Investments is in no way obligated to inform you of your margin calls. It is your responsibility to monitor your own account at all times. Stock USA Investments or Penson Financial Services may also cover part or all of your position to meet your margin call at anytime with or without notice. Penson Financial Services may choose to stop extending any credit at all or close the account for repeat violators. Also no checks or wire transfers can be sent out of the account unless there is available free cash of at least that amount in the account.
* Equity Requirement: The amount of equity required to open and maintain a pattern day-trading account is $25,000. If your equity drops below this amount you must deposit additional funds to get your equity back up to $25,000. If you do not maintain the minimum equity, your account may be allowed to become a regular margin account with buying power determined by the clearing firm and limited to 3 day-trades in a five day period. Position held overnight do not count as day-trades.
* IMPORTANT NOTICE: The procedures and rules listed on this page are for informational purposes and may be subject to change, which may not be reflected on this page, or may be updated without notice. This is only a partial list of trader's responsibilities. Traders need to understand that they have far more responsibilities than are or can be listed here. If you have any questions about any of your responsibilities, please contact us.
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