Hey ETers, I have 3 IB accounts, 1 TZ, 1 MerrillEdge, and 1 RH account. Also TOS. Anyhow, long story short, I wanted to consolidate and move money to my main account. I was doing well in MerrillEdge(ME) and consistently withdrew money from it to other accounts which has a REAL trading platform as opposed to the bullsh*t web interface. Also as free spending money. But the original reason I used MerrillEdge because they were one of the first to offer $0 comm. Of course, nowadays, everyone offers it. So, I withdrew so much money/profits from ME that I'm barely within PDT. Then one trade put me slightly below PDT. So I went on ME website to withdrew the rest of my money. Because I didn't want to trade their lame ass web interface. I have real trading platforms with borrows/locates and Level 2 etc. And they wouldn't let me! They said I have to meet some bullshiet margin rules to bring my account back up. I even called their trading desk and they said I can't withdraw my OWN $. WTF?! Is this even LEGAL?! Long time ago, I took Series 7,55, and 63 and I don't remember anything about if you are below PDT via a loss/margin call that you have to meet that margin call and bring your account back up over PDT to withdraw? Seems like the most fck up customer money hold ever! They asked how come I withdrew so much money in the past. Well, because I traded and made money so I withdraw from my account you a-hole! They want those withdrawn money back! WTF Who do I call to get this straightened out? SEC? Lawyer?
As long as you met the margin call and all stocks that you sold settled you should be able to do what ever you want.
Just deposit whatever BS money they want, then in a couple days close the account and you get it all back?
But wait a minute? Why should I meet the margin call? Everything was sold and settled a long time ago. That margin call was intraday for maybe an hour at most. But when I liquidated everything then I should be good right? Why do they want me to still meet an ancient margin call which is no longer valid?
If you are in straight cash, with no open positions, and no debt obligations outstanding, you should be able to GTFO of them. Maybe you have a resting order with them you do not know about?