when I talked to lightspeed about an account, they told me to send my money to Penson. When I contacted Penson and asked about the withdrawal procedure, they told me that I had to get my money back from Lightspeed. So naturally, I'm concerned about the run around. The last time I looked Pensons stock wasn't doing that well. I like Lightspeed's platform but I just can't bring myself to deposit a large sum of money in these times, unless I can see how the company is doing.
That is standard operating procedure. The clearing firm handles the funds and the broker handles the customer interaction. Funds must be sent to the clearing firm. Funds come back from the clearing firm, but must be requested through the customer service interface of your broker. Up to you to decide how well capitalized Penson is. They have nowhere near the capital that Interactive Brokers has.
Lightspeed also offers clearing services through Southwest clearing if requested. They also offer rediplus if you put in at least $50,000 into an account.
I got stiffed by a sub llc who cleared using Lightspeed. I called their management team to explain what happened and they basically told me to piss off. I know of two other people in the same boat. Based on this I wouldn't use them. If they don't encourage their vendors to use ethical practices - this speaks volumes about their ideology. The shame is it is a wonderful software. Good luck!