The Question and Answer Board

[Newly2b]

Not specific to Etrade, but the issue depends on whether you hold the stock in a cash or margin account. In a cash account (such as an IRA) when you sell a stock you must wait for the proceeds to clear before reusing that cash (usually 3 day wait) whereas in a margin account you can reuse the cash immediately up to your margin limit. One caveat is that in a cash account you can purchase another stock prior to the proceeds of the first sale clearing, but then you must hold that second stock until the first funds clear and it is paid-in-full before selling that stock.

Also significant in a margin account is whether or not you meet the minimum requirement of $25K balance in the account in order to avoid the Pattern Daytrader rules restricting trades to no more than 3 roundtrips completed in 5 days.

Hope this helps.

Newly