Broker and Brokerage Information Exchange

We have lots (a really lot) of messaging that deals with various brokers and what is allowed/not allowed by them in terms of buying/selling new issues on the Over The Counter (OTC) markets and many other issues.

For instance some brokers allow pretty much any transaction. I personally like eTrade as I have never had a trade rejected by them–while I have an account with Fidelity it restricts my ability to buy Fixed-to-Floating rate issues.

This area is for an exchange of information on all the various brokers–good, bad and otherwise.

Like all the various discussion pages if folks could ‘stay to topic’ the page will be more valuable to all, but staying to point.

If you want to start a new thread go to the bottom of the page and do a comment–instead of a reply.

954 thoughts on “Broker and Brokerage Information Exchange”

  1. I don’t have a Fidelity account, and thus can’t test it, but thought I’d pass on a piece of advice that I saw on SA regarding a way to get around Fidelity’s tiny order size restrictions for some preferred and BB’s.

    A poster claimed that there are no size restrictions in place if you choose “Immediate or cancel” in the trading box instead of “Day” . Another user reported that they tried it and it worked.

    Hope this helps someone!

      1. Tried one and it worked for me as well. Thanks, Nathan.

        We all use limit orders and for me they seldom get executed immediately, unless I sell at the bid or buy at the ask. Even then, I found with our illiquid utes that sometimes it took a little while until they executed.

  2. Fidelity is funny about what MM funds they allow you to buy. I suppose all brokers are the same way. When I transferred my wife’s account from T Rowe they allowed me to keep the PRTXX which is currently paying 4.02% but they will not allow me to add funds to it. I have to have all funds deposited to SPAXX which is currently paying 3.94% both are ultra short term Treasury funds.

      1. Thanks Bear, when I transferred I asked for a similar mm fund to the PRTXX should have looked closer.

        1. You can buy a lot of MMFs; however SPAXX is the default or settlement fund for Fidelity so that’s what they give you when you set up the account. Settlement funds are a short list. (There is also a FDIC insured bank settlement fund, but it often has lower rates.)

          I understand that Fidelity offers a (non-settlement) US Treasury MMF, FDLXX with about the same interest rate and expense ratio as SPAXX. You can buy FDLXX in the account. You can also buy ETFS like SGOV and similar, often with lower expenses.

          There are differences from state to state on the state tax exempt status of the SPAXX MMF because SPAXX holds US Government as well as US Treasury obligations. A purer US Treasury fund can be more state-tax wise. (Long discussion omitted – google around.)

          Fidelity® Treasury Only Money Market Fund
          https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31617H300

          Taxes? Yup 32 boring pages without any ticker symbols
          – jump to page 23 for SPAXX / 31617H102
          – jump to page 28 for FDLXX / 31617H300
          https://institutional.fidelity.com/app/proxy/content?literatureURL=/842885.PDF

          JMO. DYODD.

      1. Further, you don’t have to keep the $100k in there, just some amount and then later you add to it if you want. The $100k is only for the initial purchase.

        1. My recollection is that minimum is $100K in taxable accounts; $10K in non-taxable account.

  3. WCC-A – if you bought this nice 10.625% coupon preferred a year or so back you already know it has been called June 23rd at $25.

    If you do own it, do check your account to ensure that the last dividend it paid on 6/23 is classified as a dividend (qualified subject to holding period).

    I own it in multiple accounts and only Vanguard shows the last dividend as interest incorrectly! They did correctly pay and classified the past 3 quarters of dividends!

    Have already wasted over an hour trying to get it fixed at Vanguard! They have yet to research and call me back in spite of pointing out that they correctly paid it as dividend and so have other other brokers.

    1. There is no need for this. The reported dividend classification now has nothing to do with how it will be reported on your 1099, and it’s a waste of time trying to get it changed. Just check your 1099 for errors when you get it.

  4. Etrade is running a promo through 6/15 for account transfers with the following incentives:
    500k-1M = $2,000
    1M-2M = $5,000
    2M-5M = $8,000
    5M-10M = $15,000
    10M-15M=$20,000

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *