Anyone having trouble with Zecco Trading?

Call them, it shouldn't be taking that long.

I have Zecco and it took 1 week (business days) for them to get my account setup AND have money to trade with.

Have you tried to link your Zecco account to a Swiss bank Account or fictional off-shore company?

That is strange though. Mine was as easy as Mavrick88's, if not easier. Maybe there's just a backlog of a ton of people trying to jump into the game because of the current volatility and plethora of bargain basement opportunities.

Luckily I did not get a request for info - although yes, call them (it is probably the same as their 800 number, but I call 909-657-6655), and both times I called today someone picked up. E-mail is a little slower, but as you said, since they stopped e-mailing I guess call again if necessary.

I've had a huge problem recently with lockdowns on my full authorized account... I already wrote a thread about it in the lounge so I won't repeat it here, but I just can't leave because the fact that they give you back YOUR money (stock proceeds) immediately (the way it should be) is just too good to give up.

I think that is part of your problem and why your account is getting put on lockdown. You normally have to wait three days after a trade to use your funds until the transaction clears. If you just turn around and trade right after you sell even though Zecco sometimes lets you I believe you are violating a trading rule. I have more than one brokerage account, in fact three and I did that one time with one of my other brokerages and I had to fund my account to cover the amount for three trades which amounted to several thousand dollars just to prove that I would have had the money to pay for the trades before the 3 days took place for the initial trade to clear. Zecco is probably not clear on their policies but from past experience, that is how the rule has been explained to me. I know it sucks to wait three days but try and have extra cash in your account so you can trade with cleared funds and not the funds from a stock you just sold.

Correct me if I am wrong but I think that may be your problem for your lockdowns.

You're probably right about that. My suggestion to the guy with the locked account is try to get a margin account if you can.

I already have a margin account, and the issue is due to the number of shares (or perhaps they do not like me ). Maybe it might have something to do with taking earnings from pennies and using it to buy other pennies - but I haven't had any issues with it before.

With Zecco, your earnings add to your buying power immediately if you have a margin account. If you have a cash account, it is the regulated T+3 days. With other brokers, even if you have a margin account, you still have to wait T+3.

Technically, I believe you are somehow using margin (because if T+3 is a law and not a tradition, there's no way Zecco could get around not doing it)... but I haven't gotten dinged when holding a stock purchased via the proceeds of other stock overnight, for example (which if you normally used margin, would make interest hit if I understand Zecco's policy correctly from their message boards).

Of course, I am still trying to learn as much as I can not only about the market, but also the technicalities of things work. I know there are legitimate reasons for the T+3, but anyway.

At any rate, they directly told me that at first it is for security (I guess people breaking into accounts and randomly buying shares is a problem?), at the second it is because their risk managers don't like stuff like that (buying millions or even thousands of shares) and so they personally reject such transactions... which I can't say I agree with if you've shown that you are aware of the risks involved with pennies.

Not with any brokers I've ever used.

Really? hmm. Do you have a Zecco account?

They also talk about it on the boards - let me see if I can find the link (Zecco boards):

Ok - nevermind. Not on the boards, but if you look here:

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/...-overview.html

Wait, got it

http://www.zecco.com/forums/buying-p...s-29417_1.aspx

Overall, I'll admit it is pretty confusing and I'm still not sure. You're probably right though.

Although I am new to Zecco, I know I've done at least one trade from the proceeds of a stock that same day (well, I guess it was more of a loss - Zecco messed up and my $800 gain turned to nearly ($1200) in the space of a couple minutes - my fault though for not selling the previous day when the gain was almost four times greater - my greed and impatience bit me in the behind) and it didn't seem to hiccup.

And I guess I should've been more clear - its not really that my entire account is locked down, but I am rejected from doing anything other than selling the positions I already hold. Any buy attempt gets rejected immediately, and I have to call customer service, wait on hold for about 15-20 minutes, and then get it taken off. CS is nice but if I have to call everytime I want to make a purchase (and at the end, not be able to make it anyway), I might have to bite the bullet and pay crazy commissions at other brokers. At least if they work it might be worth it, though...

We'll see. I guess I'll try tomorrow again.

Wait, sorry Simon - I misunderstood your post. Are you saying that with a margin account at your broker, you do NOT experience T+3? May I ask which broker(s) you use?

If so, how does it work? (as in, do you use proceeds immediately or at least wait T+1, etc)

I know you are a respected penny trader here so I am very curious as to your trading setup

pretty much every other broker. . . i also have never heard of that 3 day clearing of funds for a margin account

are you sure you have a margin account (no offense)

I have a new zecco account and a scottrade account as well--the zecco is margin,and the money's available immediately. The scotttrade isn't however, but they'll let me 'free ride' as long as the shares I buy are more than 5.00.

The only complaint with zecco is it seems the pages take an awfully looooong time to load. Yesterday morning I was trying to check to see if my shares had sold, and it was 7 minutes and three re-attempts to sign on.

Aaaarrrgghhhhhhhhh.....

Syynik

I've had a few problems with Zecco being a bit slow. But over all I am still satisfied with them.

Looks like you all are right. I have an account over at optionsxpress as well, and I sold a small position recently - I'm not sure whether it was available immediately as I did not check - but when I checked the next day it was already available in my buying power.

When I scrolled over the "IntraDay buying power" part, the tooltip made it seem that indeed, in a margin account, the proceeds are recycled pretty much immediately for use again intraday.

Not sure if that means you'll get dinged margin interest if you hold overnight, but nonetheless, nice to know.

And yes, all of my brokerage accounts are margin enabled even though I do not use margin.