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All ETC Brokerage Services accounts are self-directed. ETC Brokerage does not exercise discretion or otherwise offer advice and/or recommendations and acts solely on customer instruction.

When you open a brokerage account with ETC Brokerage Services, the account is registered to your account at Equity Trust Company and included as an additional portfolio position. ETC Brokerage generally does not hold client cash. Cash remains at Equity Trust Company.  When a customer buys an investment, funds are swept by ACH into the ETC Brokerage account.  When a customer sells an investment, money is swept back to Equity Trust Company. Therefore, funds will move seamlessly between the two accounts when trades are placed. Once the trade is placed, no further action is required by the account owner.

To transfer funds into ETC Brokerage, a client must first establish an account at Equity Trust Company.  The client will work with Equity Trust Company to complete the necessary forms to bring assets into Equity Trust.

When you transfer “in-kind,” you simply move your investments to us “as is.” You don’t have to liquidate your public investment holdings to fund your Equity Trust Company account. There’s no selling or buying involved and no tax consequences either. Equity Trust Company receives your investments at the market value on the date of the transfer. ETC Brokerage Services, Equity Trust Company’s affiliate broker, provides you with the convenience of holding your publicly traded assets as well as offering stock, bond, and mutual fund trading, through an ETC Brokerage trading account. ETC Brokerage accounts are held as an asset within an Equity Trust Company self-directed account and offer convenient and seamless movement of funds between trust and brokerage accounts so you can easily invest in traditional and alternative assets.

The process to transfer a publicly traded asset in-kind can be accomplished quickly and easily. First, open an Equity Trust Company account. Once your Equity Trust Company account is established, you can also open an ETC Brokerage trading account. To request your public investments to be transferred in-kind to your ETC Brokerage account, complete the Equity Trust Transfer Form and list the positions you wish to transfer and select that you would like to transfer those positions in-kind. Once Equity Trust Company receives your transfer form, ETC Brokerage will request the assets to be electronically transferred to your ETC Brokerage account. The total value of your brokerage account assets will be reflected within your Equity Trust Company account holdings. Individual brokerage asset holdings can be viewed through your ETC Brokerage online account login.

Most mutual fund families can be purchased through our clearing firm, Axos Clearing, LLC. Some funds may have initial purchase limits or may be closed to new investors. ETC Brokerage does not trade select fund or securities not cleared by Axos Clearing, LLC. Contact an ETC Brokerage representative for additional information on available mutual fund families.

ETC Brokerage Services is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and our clearing firm partner provides account protection up to $25 million for correspondent customer assets held by Axos Clearing LLC. The first $500,000 of coverage (including up to $250,000 for cash balances) per client is provided by SIPC as defined by SIPC Rules (www.sipc.org). The policy with a private insurer provides additional “excess SIPC” account coverage up to $24.5 million.  With the combination of SIPC coverage and private insurance, accounts held by our clearing firm are protected up to a total of $25 million per client, including up to $1,150,000 million for cash balances with an aggregate limit of $100 million.

Account protection coverage applies when an SIPC member firm fails financially and is unable to meet its obligations to securities clients. It does not protect against losses from the rise and fall in the market value of investments, and it does not cover all assets.

Sale proceeds from securities are typically available three business days after the date of sale. Proceeds from the sale of a mutual fund are available one to three business days from the date of sale depending on the mutual fund. 

ETC Brokerage does not offer margin accounts.