Another Scottrade response.
Currently, MYEC is restricted to only sell transactions with Scottrade. Purchase orders for new positions are not being accepted.
The reason for this trading restriction is that the security is an illiquid stock that incurs additional NSCC (National Securities Clearing Corp) clearing requirements for our company's FOCUS (15c-3-3) report. The NSCC requires participants to put up capital for security positions based upon the price of those securities.
As an example, Scottrade holds a position of 38 million shares of a particular stock that trades at $0.002 per share. We are required to put up over $1 million even though the market value of that position is only $76,000. As you can see, this can negatively affect the firm's net capital.
We have no plans on removing this trading restriction unless the additional clearing requirements are eliminated. We have no way of knowing if or when that might occur.
Thank you for choosing Scottrade. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance.