I sold 2500 shares of ERTH yesterday (June 9th).  The settlement date of the trade is 12 June.  This means that I sold on 9 June, but I won't have access to the proceeds (the cash) of the sale until 12 June.  

This really pisses me off because most people sell a stock so they can invest in another one and usually do so knowing the price of the stock they want to buy is very time sensitive. Now my cash is going to be tied up in ameritrades cyberspace for 3 freaking days!!!

I've heard good things about Scottrade but wonder if the same trade/settlement methodology is used there.  Anybody who use Scottrade care to weigh in on this?  TIA.

TRW,

The current settlement time for equity related transactions is 3(business) days.  There has been discussions about moving towards next day settlement.  It is called STP (Straight Through Processing)  There was an action group formed during the height of internet trading.  This self-elected group of securities insiders disolved in 2002.  As of this moment, the move to STP is up in the air.

Chances are Scottrade is no different than Ameritrade.  Every brokerage house use the T+3 settlement method.  

There is a way around this.  Some brokerage houses allow next day settlement.  Usually this costs much more than a regular transaction fee.

Hope this helps,

-Fuji

Pat,

Thanks for the info.  This is longest I have had to wait for money to get credited to my account so I can use it again.  The longest time before this was one day at the most.

I have never had that problem.  I started with Datek before Ameritrade bought them out.  The only time I have had to wait is when I actually wanted to withdraw the cash.  If I wanted to reinvest it I was able to do so immediately.

Settlement date works both ways.  when you sell you get paid in three days, when you buy you have three days to settle(pay) for your trade.  You can sell and reinvest the proceeds the same day.  You should learn the basics before you invest your money.

I started with Datek also and never had a problem with this when they were running the show!  Here it is the third business day and I am still waiting to be able to use my cash to invest in something else...