Ah....there it is. Thank you for the explanation. It’s a margin account with both Big Board and OTC. I own both. I’m able to borrow money from ETrade against the non-OTC equities I own. Got it.
it can work that way as long as the resulting non-marginable security purchase is 'cash' basis. some of the brokers get downright creative to allow greater trading opportunities, while remaining within fed guidelines.
for example TD's ability to side-step the 3-day settlement rule on proceeds from a stock sale. can flip that money and re-buy something else with it immediately. technically that money is held in a type of margin account until it settles. but TD lets you use that cash now and buy as if you had the cash in hand.
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