Elmer, not 401k. Many people have restrictions on regular brokerage accounts. To enforce those restrictions some companies are requiring that employees trade only through his company interface. For example, if I buy the stock and then try to sell it, the sell order will be rejected automatically, as there is a 30 days hold restrictions. Daytrading is completely prohibited. Some other people I know have to print all transactions and send them to their company to verify all restrictions are respected.