Cash available is the funds available for withdrawal or for buying cash products (stocks, bonds, funds, options).
How cash available is calculated
Cash available starts with your cash balance and is then adjusted using the components listed below:
| Component | Effect on Cash available |
| Cash balance | Starting point for the calculation |
| Transactions not booked | Intraday transactions that have not been booked, such as deposits, withdrawals, exchange fees. |
| Value of stocks, ETFs, bonds, funds | The value (reduced by the haircut 'Not available as margin collateral') can be used to offset components that would otherwise reduce cash available (initial margin reserved, cost to close). |
| Market Value of options | Negative option value reduces cash available as it is reserved for buying back the options. Positive option value can offset net margin losses. |
| P/L of margin positions | Net margin losses reduce cash available. Net profits offset components that would otherwise reduce cash available (initial margin reserved, negative value of options, cost to close). |
| Financing accruals | Unrealized accruals that have been incurred but not yet settled, such as financing costs, borrowing costs, interests. |
| Cost to close |
Cost to close reduces cash available unless it is offset by positive P/L of margin positions or Value of stocks, ETFs, bonds, funds. In other words, if the cost to close a position is higher than the value of the position, the difference between cost to close and value is deducted from the Cash available. |
| Corporate action accruals | The value is not included in Cash available. |
| Initial margin reserved | The part of initial margin reserved that is not offset by the items above reduces cash available. |
Cash Available can never exceed initial margin available.
Where Cash available is shown
Grouped accounts
For cross-collateralized accounts, each account's Cash available considers funds spent or reserved for margin in other accounts and not covered by its cash.
Cash available for each account is calculated as the lower of:
- The methodology above applied to that account
- The methodology above applied to the account group
Account-level margining
Cash available is calculated separately for each account, without any spillover between accounts.
Account Value Shield
Account value shield amounts can reduce Cash available. This is to ensure any withdrawn or spent cash does not activate the account value shield.
Net Free Equity
Net Free Equity amount is different from Cash available. When your Cash available is negative, it doesn't necessarily mean your account is generating negative interest. Account interest is based on Net Free Equity on main account and account value on sub account.
For more information, please read: How are interests calculated
What about my total cash?
Booked plus not booked cash are shown in Account details, labeled as ‘Cash’. Transactions not booked can include deposits, withdrawals and traded values.
Sub-account transfer
The funds available for transfer between subaccounts may be higher than the cash available. Refer to platform module Sub-account transfer where estimated available for transfer is shown:
Example of portfolio with cash products (stocks, bonds, mutual funds)
Cash available is calculated as:
- Cash balance: $123,607.18
- Transactions not booked: -$0
- Cash available = $123,607.18 - $0= $123,607.18
Example of Portfolio with margin products
Cash available is calculated as:
- Cash balance: $100,000
- Transactions not booked: $-63.80
- Margin P/L (offsets some part of Initial margin reserved) : $150
- Cost to close (part of Not available as initial/maintenance collateral): $-20
- Initial margin reserved: $-15,745 ($-15,895 + $150)
- Cash available = $100,000 - $63.80 - $20 - $15,745 =$ 84,171.2
For further details, read also Single account or single account margining