Funds Settlement question

[Reznor]

Hi. First let me apologize if this question has been asked before. I'm not sure if my broker is correct or not. I have a cash account Roth.

I sold stock A that Ive owned for over 30 days last Wednesday. Initially I thought that I should be able to use those funds immediately to buy another stock but couldn't sell the new stock purchased until 3 days meaning I could sell it today. My funds from selling stock A weren't available to me until Thursday when I bought stock B. I sold stock B today, Monday. Shouldn't my funds from the sale of stock B be available to me today since the funds from the sale of stock A were settled at the close on Friday? Basically I sold stock today that were purchased with unsettled funds at the time of purchase but have since settled and now my funds weren't available to me to purchase stock C today.

[mike_d]

sounds right to me. i had to get a margin account bc of that exact reason, i like to trade without waiting for settled funds.

[Weirdharold]

This question is hard to answer... usually if you hold a stock for over 3 days your broker will allow you to use those funds to buy.... but not always... and dang if I can figure out the deal... If you buy a stock and haven't held it for at least 3 days they will always make you wait until funds are settled to make the funds available to you.... I had transfered funds Friday expecting them to go into my brokrage acct today before open... dang holidays... didn't happen ... So I sold (at a loss) a stock I had been holding several days (well over 3) expecting to be able to use those funds to purchase a bargin basement special I don't think I will see again for a long long time... but they didn't make the funds available to me.... may have been the end of the year?

It is just a hard question to answer.... and like Mike said the solution is a margin account.... just have to have discipline!