how does this work?

I reccently upgraded from cash to margin, and I hoped buying power would be immediated updated after selling equities.

however, whenever I sell equities bought before margin account opened, the cash balance or buying power stay the same, and only got updated the next day.

So, there's a T+1 rule for margin account, not really "immediately".

Shares bought in a cash account continue to be accounted as cash account shares.  Customer service may be able to transfer them to margin.

All balances will update completely the next day, no matter whether you have a cash account or a margin account.  The balance may not show it, but if you know how much you just sold off, you will know how much you can buy IMMEDIATELY after you have executed a sell.  Just last week (and the week before that) I sold X amount of shares of a company for Y dollars.  And literally two minutes laters, after a little calculator time, I bought shares of a new company for that same value of Y dollars.  No problems whatsoever, no fees or charges, nothing whatsoever.  Then the next day, my balance was right where I had it calculated.  A delay is no problem when you have a trusty calculator with add, subtract, multiply, and divide with you.

Thanks a lot!

I don't have anything in mind to buy in right now, just got worried by the disappeared cash balance I expected from selling. It's not even shown in "real time" column under "Balance".

and all equities I buy thereafter will be margin, right?

Maybe this doesnt apply to cash accounts.  Because I sold 2400 bucks worth of securities yesterday.  My cash balance shows I have 2400 dollars.  But my buying power shows just a couple bucks.  I tried to make a trade but it was refused.

Just last week (and the week before that) I sold X amount of shares of a company for Y dollars.  And literally two minutes laters, after a little calculator time, I bought shares of a new company for that same value of Y dollars.

right
for cash account, the fund from selling other available for buying power on T+3 day

that's why you need a margin account, even if you don't want to borrow anything at all

when you get your margin account, also ask the customer service to move all your current equities (bought before margin account) to the margin pool.

are you charged for using margin money (to buy other stocks) before T+3 is up ?

you won't be charged for margin interest, as far as your balance is not negative.

Hummm

Sorry, mis-post

I think they only add back your buying power overnight

you could immediately buy, because the buying power is from margin. it should be fine, because margin interest is calcuated using overnight balance.

zecco really sucks. I have used etrade/tradefreedom (canada). buying power is immediately added after selling, even for cash account

it makes sense, because the fund is due also on settlement date. Using zecco's rule, fund only delivered to account on settlement day for selling, while immediately subtracted for buying not settlement date!

MJK58:

All balances will update completely the next day, no matter whether you have a cash account or a margin account.  The balance may not show it, but if you know how much you just sold off, you will know how much you can buy IMMEDIATELY after you have executed a sell.  Just last week (and the week before that) I sold X amount of shares of a company for Y dollars.  And literally two minutes laters, after a little calculator time, I bought shares of a new company for that same value of Y dollars.  No problems whatsoever, no fees or charges, nothing whatsoever.  Then the next day, my balance was right where I had it calculated.  A delay is no problem when you have a trusty calculator with add, subtract, multiply, and divide with you.

ahaau886,  

I have been reading your posts on the Buying Power update problems you are having and I just can't seem to put the pieces together about what is going wrong for you.  I have been trying to link what you have been saying in this and other threads to my personal experiences.  I want to find out what you mean so the same thing won't happen to me (or anyone else).  Hopefully we can hash out some of these rouge "buying power" issues you are having and hopefully we can all learn how to avoid any problems in the future.  You mentioned that you have a margin account (I have one too) and I was wondering if you could elaborate on how the buying power not updating right away is costing you money.  When you sell a stock and it doesn't update right away, does the system prevent you from making a new buy order?  Are you getting margin calls on your account when there shouldn't be any?

I bought in lots on last thursday, since I believe it was the market bottom, and used up all my margin buying power. therefore, my buying power was basically $0 at this point.

I then sold some big holdings, hoping to use the fund from selling first to buy in more on market bottom, and leave some margin to avoid any margin call.

then, I found, my buying power still zero after the big selling.

I sold the big holdings with a loss, not a big deal if I could buy in back at market bottom, I bet on this.

No margin call, so system updated my data after market closed, but before that, I got $0 buying power even after selling. It's not a display problem, I entered orders, even for a small order, got rejected for insufficient fund.

The market moved up the next day (Fri.), that cost me $4000 loss.

The terribly buying power rules from zecco already cost me badly before I applied for margin (and that was the reason for me to go margin, to get "immediately" buying power from selling).

the previous time, with cash only account, I sold IIF hoping to buying in USU, got caught buy the T+3 rule, lost like $1000. My fault though, I should have read the rules carefully, but I used tradefreedom/etrade before, always got buying power immediately after selling, on my cash only accounts.

I registered zecco for cheap commissions, now, I have lost much more than what I saved, for particular zecco rules.

It's not a complaint from me, just hope people, especially, new investors to be aware of some drawbacks of zecco.