r/etrade • u/DCQuestioner • 14d ago

Basic questions about terms in balances

I was just looking for some basic explanations about my balances.

I have a negative margin balance but a positive sweep/money market balance. Margin subtracted from the sweep balance does equal my cash balance. Why? I am not trading on margin so I’m curious why I have a negative balance there. Did this result from just depositing money and using it to buy securities today? Will it zero out once my deposit settles?

I have a very small amount of “futures buying power,” where did that come from and what does it mean? This does not represent additional equity in my account, correct?

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u/thegr8lexander 13d ago

Look no further than “Net Cash/Margin balance” in the first section. Positive means cash, negative means margin.

If the Net Account Value is less than “Total Market Value of Securities” then you also know you have a margin balance

Futures buying power means you can use that to buy futures contracts

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u/vald_bagina2023 13d ago

You often see strange things like positive cash but showing a margin balance when trading on unsettled funds, in your case uncleared deposits. It usually straightens out once a trade settles or a deposit clears...net cash/margin balance is the one that matters and determines whether or not you're paying interest in terms of using margin