Negative Cash Balance: What Happened and What to Do

You may have received an email or platform message informing you that your account currently has, or recently had, a negative cash balance.

A negative cash balance generally incurs interest charges, so it’s important to understand why it happens and how to avoid it.

This article explains the most common, usually unintentional, reasons for a negative balance. Intentional borrowing (for example, margin lending) is not covered here.

Check which account is negative

If you receive a negative cash balance notification, first check which sub‑account (currency account) is affected.

For example, the account below has two sub-accounts. The main account is in SGD, and there is a USD sub-account with a small negative balance.

If you’re unsure which is your main account, go to Account summary or Portfolio and select All accounts. The currency shown there is your main account currency.

You can view the cash balance and other details under:

Portfolio → Select the account you want to check

To see how your cash balance changed over time, check your Account statement. In the example below, the account shows a positive balance on 1 June, then a negative balance of -932 on 24 June.

Where to find Account statement?

You may want to fund the account to keep the cash balance positive.

Common reasons for a negative cash balance:

Custody fee charged to your account:

Custody fees are deducted from your cash balance and may push it negative.

• Learn more: What is custody fee?
• If you opt in to Securities Lending, custody fees will be waived.
• You can also review our General charges for more details. 

There may be other monthly fees on the account, for example, subscription fees for live data from exchanges.

Please ensure there is sufficient cash in the account for these deductions.

Trading with Insufficient Funds in a sub-account:

If you trade cash products (e.g. stocks) in a sub-account that doesn’t have enough cash, the system may still allow the trade if there are sufficient funds across your other accounts. However, the specific sub-account used for the trade can become negative and incur interest.

Example

• You have two accounts: an SGD main account and a USD sub-account.
• Most of your funds are in SGD. You buy US stocks from the USD sub-account.
• The system completes the trade by using your overall account value, but the USD sub-account itself doesn’t have enough cash.
• The USD sub-account shows a negative balance, effectively borrowing against your total assets.
• This negative balance will generally incur interest.

How to avoid this

Before trading, transfer sufficient funds into the relevant sub-account so it has enough cash to cover the trade.

• See: How to transfer funds between sub-accounts

Withdrawing or transferring before settlement / value date

If you use funds before they have fully settled (reached their value date), your account can temporarily go negative and incur interest. Examples:

Selling and withdrawing

• You have 1,000 USD cash and sell shares for another 1,000 USD.
• You immediately request to withdraw the full 2,000 USD.
• The withdrawal can only be processed on the value date of the share sale.
• If part of the proceeds is withdrawn or used before that value date, your cash balance may be negative for 1–2 days, resulting in interest.

Inter-account transfers around value dates

• You fund your SGD main account. The value date of this funding is the next day.
• You immediately transfer this SGD to your USD sub-account.
• Effectively, you are using tomorrow’s funds today.
• Your SGD account may show a negative balance for one day, and interest will be charged for that period.

Learn more: Value date

Interest charges from negative Net Free Equity (NFE) on margin trades

You can sometimes be charged interest even when your cash balance is not negative. This happens when your Net Free Equity (NFE) is negative due to margin trading.

If your main account is in SGD and you trade margin products (e.g. CFDs, FX) in a USD sub-account:

• The margin requirement for those positions must be supported by funds in your main account.
• If the main account does not have enough funds to cover the margin requirement, your NFE becomes negative, even if no individual cash balance is negative.
• A negative NFE will incur interest charges.

In other words, even if your cash balances look positive, you may still see interest charged if your overall margin usage causes your NFE to drop below zero.

Learn more: What is NFE and how is interest calculated?