Does anyone know how safe our investment funds are in Fidelity Investments or other brokerage houses, and if they are covered under the $250,000 FDIC insurance?

    I am wondering if I should move some funds to another brokerage?  Not sure how to get physical gold or Swiss Franks and how to hold them but I do have more than $250,000 in Fidelity.

    Thanks,  FinaM

    another good place to convert

    Posted by Michael on 4th of Oct 2008 at 09:28 am

    another good place to convert to different currencies is everbank.com.  They have many different funds, CDs, etrc. in differentr currencies.  Of course, not the safety of actual cash.

    but if cash is insured

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 10:39 am

    but if cash is insured up to 100K....and an investment up to 500K...as u said.....maybe better to be in something....trouble is......everything falling apart...including Gold. In terms of commissions....$10 may not be expensive depending of how much cash we are talking.....but at least during wkends...when bad news arise.... And specially nowadays when cash positions may be high...

    You are covered upto 500K

    Posted by gmohan on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:56 am

    You are covered upto 500K by SIPC with Fidelity and then upto 5M or so thru excess SIPC .. You canbuy Swiss Frac by purchasing FXF (make sure your timings are right as Deflation can give another boost to dollar). I have some dealers that I have purchased coins in past PM me for that else Kitco is another place to buy..

    Made the same question...nobody answered.......Guess

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:14 am

    Made the same question...nobody answered.......Guess you might split amounts into accounts (within same Broker or between different Br.).....each under the guarantee number.  I even thought that if Broker has account in Bank that collapses....what happens with your monies ????? If its cash...???? .   Maybe better have stocks...at least you are entitled to them....although not clear if there is a BK...how would one stand if in cash, or if with stocks.....and if you are short stocks...and Broker goes down......would you be able to cover ??????  Who would have thought that the US would have the same troubles one finds in 3rd. world countries. Seems money is safer in these ones now...than in US.......Will try find a Broker in Somalia.......

    Brokers insured

    Posted by Michael on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:22 am

    Brokerage accounts are insured by the SIPC which is like the FDIC for banks.  Accounts are insured for up to $500,000 of which $100,000 can be cash.  But almost all brokerage houses have their own insurance which protects accounts into the millions of dollars.  So in this environment the real queation, I guess, is -- how stable is the insurer that the broker is using?  I've been wanting to explore that further myself.  If anyone learns more, please post it.

    And still.....the problem might not

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:33 am

    And still.....the problem might not be the Broker.....but the Brokers Bank.....Suppose there is a bankruptcy.......whats your situation as an account holder with the Broker..????    Learned that over 300K accounts are in trouble under the LEH situation....and many are Hedge Funds with clients accounts.....If you live in abroad....you have to go to court in US, get a lawyer, ...????   Better buy some land, and grow soybeans....then.....

    Tks.  I think this issue

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:27 am

    Tks.  I think this issue should be a priority ...at least here in BPT...for all of us to get involved...and find out where are we standing.  My broker says $100K cash..guaranteed.....so if everybody is in cash....we are at risk....dont we ???? One could buy treasuries at close...daily...with the cash position....????

    Brokerage Accounts

    Posted by rgoodwin on 6th of Oct 2008 at 02:28 am

    Something that would be helpful. As each person posts info from their respective brokerage's, please could you state WHO your account is with. That way, we can share info on the ones that matter to us individually and not assume that one is the same as the other. Just something I think would be helpful.

    that's a serious question --

    Posted by Michael on 4th of Oct 2008 at 09:33 am

    that's a serious question -- is it a good idea before the close every day to put cash into a stable investment.  Even at commissions of $10/day though, that's pretty expensive insurance.

    Whether its necessary or not

    Posted by Michael on 4th of Oct 2008 at 08:08 am

    Whether its necessary or not I don't know, but I have my money split up between Ameritrtade, Interactive brokers and now Tradestation.  I originally had multiple accounts for three reasons:  the platforms, so that I could clearly seperate long-term trades, swing trades and short-term trades in my mind,  and so that if one brokerage had problems or was down I could use the others to manage positions.  Now I like the added benefit of having money spread around. 

    Kitco is the easiest place to buy gold from.  You order online at whatever the spot price is at the moment you order.  You put it on a credit card, they ship the gold.

    I myself want to add some more physical gold and am wondering whether to start averaging in now, or will there be a drop closer to 700.  If I had it to do again I would have bought at 735.

    Brokerage Houses

    Posted by finam on 4th of Oct 2008 at 10:53 am

    Thanks everyone for the replies.  This BEAR market could get much uglier before we ever get a long term uptrend (even if we get that bounce at the end of October, most of us believe that it would be just another Bear market bounce)

    Elliott Wave International says that we are continuing the GRAND SUPERCYCLE DOWN that started on January 14, 2000. And that the Suprecycle, Cycle, Primary and Intermediate trends are  all DOWN.  (Steve and Matt and RP have been telling us for a while now that the Primary trend is down) Dow theory just Reconfirmed that yesterday when the Dow Transports undercut their previous low from January.

    I am thinking that for now, I'll move some funds to different brokerage houses and not keep any more than $100,000 in cash in each.  Not too sure about the implications of investing in QID and TWM, SDS and SRS type of funds as I am holding some of these.  I do have separate accounts for Long term and shorter term trades but they are all with Fidelity and heavy in cash.

    I am retired so I would rather be a bit cautious at this time so thanks for all the suggestions. Enjoy your weekend.  FinaM

    Dow Jones Real Estate Index

    Posted by matt on 5th of Oct 2008 at 08:36 pm

    Dow Jones Real Estate Index

    Matt: Would you post the

    Posted by srleblanc on 6th of Oct 2008 at 01:42 am

    Matt: Would you post the dynamic link for the $DJR? Thx

    Dow Real Estate index

    Posted by junkmaylbox on 5th of Oct 2008 at 09:22 pm

    Matt, Pardon my stupid question on that. SRS is an ultra fund based on dj real estate index (I googled for holdings SRS). Are you recommending SRS for a trade here in fact? I asked that question separately, I see your charts as a corroboration of my intended trade.

    Roy, if that chart plays

    Posted by matt on 5th of Oct 2008 at 09:55 pm

    Roy, if that chart plays out, then SRS should go a lot high; but of course, realize that we could see violent moves one way or another, so realize that you would have be be able to sit through this if you wish to try and swing trade it. These are very unprecidented times

    a trade on SRS

    Posted by junkmaylbox on 5th of Oct 2008 at 10:26 pm

    I understand. You and Steve reiterated  extreme caution during the weekly bulletin tonight. I don't want to be a hero. Would you take this trade now? If yes, what percent would you use for a stop (as a trailing stop or in terms of average true range)? I have no experience trading during unprecedented times like this one. I am okay with not taking the trade at all, I am looking for some guidance in numerical terms. I presume the same applies to your trades on the watch list as well (AVN in particular). Thanks for your help on this! -Roy

    be careful...it looks like SRS

    Posted by dylan398 on 6th of Oct 2008 at 07:55 am

    be careful...it looks like SRS will gap up significantly....I would not suggest buyin until you get a pullback....I own it and might be selling pre/mkt

    a co-ordinated rate cut may come at any time....also I believe the SPX may open around 61.8% retracement levels...

    Dylan: why would you sell

    Posted by srleblanc on 6th of Oct 2008 at 09:10 am

    Dylan: why would you sell pre-mkt if you expect SRS to gap up? what am I missing?

    105 is dollars higher than

    Posted by dylan398 on 6th of Oct 2008 at 09:21 am

    105 is dollars higher than the close friday.......it may go higher...I'm a short term trader....I may buy it back, if I see strength..

    Thx - got it

    Posted by srleblanc on 6th of Oct 2008 at 09:38 am

    Thx - got it Money mouth

    SRS

    Posted by drorlando on 6th of Oct 2008 at 09:44 am

    If you are gonna buiy her back, better be watching here, soon she will be a buy again!

    I think the January lows

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 12:06 pm

    I think the January lows for Transports have not yet been breached.I  have the Jan. lows at:  $TRAN : 4032.....and IYT: 66.95.......Am I wrong ????    (Lows ...NOT on a closing basis).

    this from fridays elliott wave

    Posted by maggi3322 on 4th of Oct 2008 at 11:37 pm

    this from fridays elliott wave (I know, they're a little vague)






    Now what? Both the U.S. House and Senate have each passed their respective versions of the big bailout bill and the president signed it into law today. But what happens now when the stock market decisively breaks down from current levels? A break lower here is when some degree of panic will arise since “the bill” that just passed is thought to somehow address the market’s problems. It won’t, nor can it. One day of stock market decline on Monday of this week wiped out over $1 trillion dollars of stock market capitalization, greater than the $700 billion (+) total of our tax money that is supposedly being allocated to “fix” the problem (with an estimated $152 billionof “pork” included for congressional pet projects, it’s a pig of a bill…ba da boom, please tip your waitress.). The market, by virtue of its sheer size, is the master. And here’s the kicker from a stock market technicians point of view: the same day that the bailout bill passes, which will supposedly save the world, the Dow Jones Transportation Average closes beneath its January low, thereby reconfirming the major Dow Theory bear market signal issued last November. EWT, EWFF and STU subscribers have been bearish since the dual market highs last July-October, and we even alerted you to the original Dow Theory Bear Market signal last November. So even this venerable market signal is falling in line with our forecast and all the Dow Theorists should now agree.

    Thanks Maggi for the chart. 

    Posted by finam on 5th of Oct 2008 at 01:03 pm

    Thanks Maggi for the chart.  THAT was the one I was referring to.

    you're very welcome, hope it

    Posted by maggi3322 on 5th of Oct 2008 at 01:36 pm

    you're very welcome, hope it helps

    maggi Thanks for the post. 

    Posted by vmath on 5th of Oct 2008 at 11:17 am

    maggi Thanks for the post.  Richard Russell TAKE NOTE!!! LOL

    Thanks vmath for posting that. 

    Posted by finam on 5th of Oct 2008 at 11:50 am

    Thanks vmath for posting that.  EWII and several others also talk a lot about the TED Spread.  I know that they said it is the difference between the safer US T-bills and the Libor and the implications are NOT good here right now and that while credit spreads continue to widen the stock market should remain under downward pressure, at times severe.

    We may have had some talk of this on the blog and I missed it but if you or someone here can explain the Ted Spreads implications in some basic terms, I would also appreciate that. and even a chart that I could save to Stockcharts.

    Maybe Bloomberg is the only one with this chart as it does not seem readily available.  Fina

     

    finam glad you liked the

    Posted by vmath on 5th of Oct 2008 at 12:00 pm

    finam glad you liked the post... but credit goes to maggi Smile

    tks maggi.....so the important fact

    Posted by treid4dou on 5th of Oct 2008 at 02:34 am

    tks maggi.....so the important fact is the close. DT bear mkt. confirmed then.

    according to Elliott Wave. Safe

    Posted by maggi3322 on 5th of Oct 2008 at 12:05 pm

    according to Elliott Wave. Safe Money reports has been calling for a major depression similar to the 1930's for the last five years. HS Dent has been calling for a major rally before the markets melt down, who the heck is right? Appears that HSDent might be a little off ;)

    is that HS Dent's current

    Posted by dowjones4k on 5th of Oct 2008 at 06:17 pm

    is that HS Dent's current thinking or out of his books?  if books which one?

    I "believe" HS Dent had

    Posted by marketguy on 5th of Oct 2008 at 08:56 pm

    I "believe" HS Dent had the top in somewhere between 2008-2010 (or 2009-2010) in the "Great Boom Ahead" (written in the mid 90's I think)...granted the Dow never reached 30-40k as he thought it would but either way I'm guessing his depression scenario is/has arrived...sad times my friends, sad times....I wouldn't be "surpirsed" to see a late 2001 type rally (ie maybe we get back to 1300+...not sure how we do it but have to consider it a possibility as this year is so correlated to 2001 with the 10/20 month moving avgs, bollinger bands, etc).

    yes he did i have

    Posted by dowjones4k on 6th of Oct 2008 at 09:48 am

    yes he did i have read many of his writings and he is predicting a depression type event this time.  it is happening a little earlier than he predicited.

    marketguy, could you post charts

    Posted by maggi3322 on 5th of Oct 2008 at 09:13 pm

    Yes, January low was 4032

    Posted by finam on 4th of Oct 2008 at 07:10 pm

    Yes, January low was 4032 and we closed yesterday at 4134.  We are close though. Not sure what charts EWII used.

    we will have to watch

    Posted by treid4dou on 4th of Oct 2008 at 07:41 pm

    we will have to watch the Dow/Trannies ...making lower lows BOTH.....for a DT confirmation..... so its all about the trannies now......guess bears are going to pull the trannies hard....down....

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