My Experience with Direct Deposit and Trading Balances
Summary of User Issue and Solutions:
- The main problem reported by the user was confusion over why their settled cash was larger than the amount available to trade after receiving a direct deposit for the first time.
- Fidelity explained that the discrepancy could be due to funds being committed to open orders, affecting the cash available for trading.
- Users can check if cash is committed to open orders by logging into their Fidelity account and reviewing the “Balancing” tab.
- Fidelity also suggested that the early deposit could be associated with an early paycheck feature from the employer and recommended contacting the employer for clarification.
- The user later realized that the funds were deposited overnight, which was why they were not available to trade until the market opened, resolving their initial concern.
Here’s the full thread
hi, I just got paid for the first time by adding my youth account as my direct deposit with my employer. Before I would just transfer money from my bank account to my fidelity account and I know it takes a few days for the money to settle but it is available to trade.
But today, it says that my settled cash is larger than the amount I have available to trade? Just wondering if this is normal for direct deposits😁
also im supposed to get paid on Fridays so im not sure why the deposit came in today? i have my pay split between my fidelity and my capital one account now and i still haven’t gotten it in my capital one account
Hey there, @r1khil. Thanks for stopping by this morning! I’ll be happy to shed some light on this for you.
In short, this is not necessarily the intended behavior for direct deposits. However, this can likely be explained fairly easily. It sounds like your account may have funds committed to open orders. This would explain why your “Cash Available to Trade” balance is less than Settled Cash, indicating open orders that haven’t been executed yet.
The good news is that you can see if your cash has indeed been committed to open orders by logging into Fidelity.com. Once logged in, simply select your account, click the “Balances” tab, and look for “Cash Committed to Open Orders”.
Cash Available to Trade represents the amount available to purchase securities in a cash account without adding money to the account. Executed buy orders will reduce this value (at the time the order is placed), and executed sell orders will increase this value (at the time the order executes).
Settled cash is simply the portion of your cash (Core) balance that represents the number of securities you can buy and sell in a cash account without creating a Good Faith Violation. Since direct deposits are considered to be collected upon receipt, this isn’t something you need to worry about at this time.
For a deeper dive into account balances and what they mean, I’ll link a great article below. Feel free to check it out.
Understanding Your Account Balances: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/tools-demos/trading-tools/nextgen-balances-video
For your second question, this is not necessarily something we can answer, as the early deposit could be associated with your employer utilizing an early paycheck feature. We cannot confirm this is the case though, so I suggest reaching out to your employer for more insight.
All that being said, we’re glad you stopped by this morning. If you have any additional questions for us, don’t hesitate to pop in and say hello!
hi Tysm!! i think the issue was that the funds were deposited overnight so when i checked it wasn’t available to trade because markets weren’t open yet. But now the right balance for settled and available to trade shows up!
Thanks for the update, @r1khil! We’re here if anything else comes up. 🟢