Frequently Asked Questions

An individual account is a standard investment account with only one owner. Upon death of the account holder, the account assets are transferred to the designated beneficiary/beneficiaries.

A JTWROS account is shared by two or more individuals, each account holder owns an equal portion of ownership in the account. Upon the death of one account holder, the account ownership is passed on to the surviving account holder(s).

A JTIC account is shared by two or more individuals, with each account holder owning an equal or different percentage of the assets. Upon the death of one account holder, the specified percentage of the total account ownership is passed through the decedent’s estate.

A custodial account is managed by a legal guardian or parent for the benefit of a minor. The amount invested is kept in the account until the minor reaches the age of the majority. A custodial account may be the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) and Uniform to Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA). All states permit UGMA accounts. Vermont and South Carolina do not allow UTMA accounts (as of 2020).

Traditional IRAs let individuals contribute pre-tax dollars to a retirement investment account, which can grow tax deferred until retirement withdrawals occur (at age 59 ½ or later). In most cases, contributions to traditional IRAs are tax deductible. When the individual withdraws money from the account during retirement, those withdrawals are taxed at their ordinary income tax rate. The IRS restricts the amount that one may add to a traditional IRA each year, depending on age. The contribution limit for the 2022 tax year is $6,000 for savers under 50 years of age. For people aged 50 and above, higher annual contribution limits apply via a catch-up contribution provision, allowing for an additional $1,000 (or a total of $7,000).

Account holders can take distributions as early as age 59 ½. Starting after age 72, account holders must take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their traditional IRAs. Funds removed before full retirement eligibility incur a 10% penalty (of the amount withdrawn) and taxes, at standard income tax rates. There are exceptions to these penalties for certain situations.
For more information, please click the IRS website on IRAs.

A Roth IRA is funded with after-tax dollars; the contributions are not tax deductible. Once you start withdrawing funds, the money is tax free. Contributions can continue to be made at any age, as long as the account holder has earned income. The account holder can maintain the Roth IRA indefinitely; there are no required minimum distributions (RMDs) during their lifetime.

A person can’t contribute to a Roth IRA if he/she makes too much money. In 2022, the limit for singles is $144,000 and for married couples, $214,000. In 2022, the contribution limit is $6,000 a year unless you are age 50 or older, in which case, you can deposit up to $7,000.

For more information, please visit the IRS website.

A rollover IRA is a transfer of funds from a retirement account into a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. The purpose of a rollover is to maintain the tax-deferred status of those assets. IRA rollovers are subject to some strict rules including the transfer of funds to be made between accounts.

A simplified employee pension (SEP) is established by an employer or a self-employed person. The employer is allowed a tax deduction for contributions to each eligible employee’s plan on a discretionary basis. Eligibility requirements for contributors include a minimum age of 21, at least three years of employment, and a $600 compensation minimum. The SEP IRA allows employers to skip contributions during years when business is down. Contributions made by employers cannot exceed the lesser of 25% of an employee’s compensation or $61,000 in 2022. Withdrawals from SEP IRAs in retirement are taxed as ordinary income.
For more information, please click the IRS website on SEP accounts.

A corporate account is opened in the name of an incorporated business; a corporate account is managed by its officers or authorized traders.

An LLC is a business structure allowed under state statutes in the U.S. where the owners are not personally liable for the company’s debt or liabilities. Regulations vary from state to state. LLCs are hybrid entities that combine the characteristics of a corporation with those of a partnership or sole proprietorship. LLCs may elect not to pay federal taxes. Profits and losses are listed on the personal tax returns of the owner(s) or they may choose a different classification, such as a corporation.

A partnership account is established by two or more persons in which each person has equal liability. The account holders may or may not have a written agreement on the rights and obligations each one has in the partnership account. A tax identification number is required to open a partnership account.

A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business that has just one owner who pays personal income tax on profits earned from the business. A sole proprietorship has no separate legal existence or identity beyond that of the sole proprietor. Sole proprietorship accounts may be called “Doing Business As” or “DBA” accounts and reference “Doing Business As” or “DBA” in the account title.

A trust account is a legal arrangement through which funds or assets are held by a third party (the trustee) for the benefit of another party (the beneficiary). The beneficiary may be an individual or a group. Ownership of the assets must be transferred to the trust. The trustee has a fiduciary duty to consider the best interests of the beneficiaries first in any decisions. The trustee is responsible for annual tax returns and may be required to file regular accountings at the request of beneficiaries, depending on state law. All distributions to the trust beneficiary and other related expenses must be paid from the trust account.

There is no monthly fee for the Per-Trade Plan.

The minimum balance required to open an options account varies depending on your option level.
Option level 1 & 2 has no minimum balance.
Option level 4 has a minimum account equity of $25,000.
Option level 5 has a minimum account equity of $100,000.

The minimum balance required to open a margin account for domestic and regular foreign accounts is $2,500. The minimum balance required to open a margin account in enhanced due diligence and high risk countries is $5,000.

The commission for options trading is $0.50 per option contract.

OTCBB and Pink Sheet stocks must be DTC/CNS eligible and close at $0.25 or higher. Stocks that settle foreign will not be permitted. Lime Trading does not allow incoming account transfers that contain OTC securities.

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security or other assets at a specified price or better. A buy limit order is executed at the limit price or lower, and a sell limit order is executed at the limit price or higher.

A stop order is an order to buy or sell a security or other assets when a specified price is reached. Once the specified price is reached, the order becomes a market order. A buy-stop order is entered at a stop price above the current market price. A sell-stop order is placed below the current market price.

A combination of a stop order and limit order. Once the specified stop price is reached, the order becomes a limit order to buy or to sell at the specified limit price or better.

A GTC order is an instruction to buy or sell a security or other assets that remains in force until the order executes, expires at a specified time, or cancels.

Yes. Trading during extended hours is subject to a commission surcharge of $0.003 per share. This fee applies to orders executed on the Electronic Communication Network (ECN). Extended pre-market trading is available between 7:05 a.m. – 9:30 a.m., EST. Extended after-hours trading is available between 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. EST.

Locate the “Orders” widget on the Lime Trader platform. You will see a cancel button next to each open order. Press the cancel button to submit a request to cancel your order.

Open equity orders may only be changed between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) during normal market hours. Outside these times, you must cancel your order and enter a new order. From the Lime Trader platform, locate the “Orders” widget. In order to modify the order, click on the “Replace” button, located in the “Replace” column. Please note that all order change requests are subject to prior fills, including fills not yet displaying on the system. New quantity represents the total number of shares including shares already filled by the order being changed.

GTC (good-till-canceled) orders remain active for 90 days or until canceled or executed. GTC orders cannot be canceled after hours; GTC orders may only be canceled during market hours.

No, there is no charge to cancel an order. Please note, however, if the order has already been filled, even partially, then the order will be charged a commission for the portion that was filled.

There is no charge to cancel and replace an order. Please note, however, if the old order has already been filled, even partially, then that filled order will be charged a commission. Please also note that if the new order replacing the canceled order is filled, then the new replacement order will also be charged a new commission once it begins to be filled.

At Lime Trading, you may trade in Stocks, ETFs, Options, and OTC (over-the-counter) stocks.

Yes. Clients can place trades in ETFs trading on US exchanges.

Margin requirements for non-leveraged ETFs are the same as those for regular stocks. Leveraged ETFs are held at a 100% requirement.

Lime Trading does not offer access to foreign markets or foreign settling securities listed on the OTC markets.

You can trade both preferred stock and class shares. There is not a standardized format for preferred or class shares. As a result, you will see these shares being formatted in two possible ways. For preferred shares, you will generally see them formatted as AIGpA or BACpL with the lower case “p” denoting “Preferred.” Class shares are generally formatted with a period followed by the class. For example, Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares would be formatted as BRK.B

Partial fills of Good-Till-Cancel (GTC) orders will be charged full commission for each day an execution occurs. Same-day partial fills will only be charged a single commission.

There are zero commissions to trade ETFs online is commission-free on Lime Trader.

The commission for a broker-assisted trade placed over the phone is $20.00 per ETF.

For stocks priced less than $1.00, add $0.003 per share for the entire order. The maximum commission per order does not exceed $5.50, with a minimum commission of $2.50.

The commission for broker-assisted trades placed over the phone is $20.00 per trade plus 50 cents per contract for option trades.

For all OTCBB and pink sheet securities, add $0.003 per share for the entire order. The maximum commission per order will not exceed $5.50, with a minimum commission of $2.50. Please note that additional charges such as settlement and/or transfer fees may apply to foreign and some illiquid OTC-BB or pink sheet securities. These fees are charged upon settlement of the trade. Opening transactions for stocks priced at or around $0.05 per share will not be allowed, only closing transactions will be permitted.

The foreign settlement fee, usually $75, is charged to trade securities that do not settle domestically (through DTCC). The foreign settlement fee does not apply to American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Currently, there is no list available for the securities that do not settle domestically but generally the symbols are 5 letters and end in F. However, not all 5-letter symbols ending in an F are charged the foreign settlement fee.

A safe-keeping fee is only charged if the security you own is not eligible to be held electronically through the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation Company (DTCC) and the physical certificate must be held by our clearing firm, in the vault. This is generally seen with low-priced penny stocks and rarely seen with the securities traded on NYSE, AMEX, or NASDAQ exchanges. The safe-keeping fee is $75.00 charged annually.

A sell-out/buy-In fee is charged if you fail to meet a margin call that is past due in your account and Lime Trading is forced to liquidate securities in your account to meet this past-due call. The fee is $25.

There is a $30 mandatory corporate action fee. A mandatory corporate action is one where the company’s board of directors takes a decision affecting the shareholders without requiring shareholder approval. Mandatory corporate actions include stock splits and mergers and acquisitions. Voluntary corporate actions have a $50 fee and these include tender offers, optional dividends and rights issues. Shareholders usually elect to participate in voluntary corporate actions.

Day trading involves significant risk. There is a high degree of risk and losses could exceed any initial and/or subsequent investment. Please be sure to review our Day-trading Agreement and Risk Disclosure and our Margin Agreement. Additionally, you will find more information if you refer to FINRA’s Investor Guidance on day trading rules.

Please be advised that a margin account holder will be flagged as a pattern day trader if he/she executes more than three day trades within five consecutive trading days. If you are flagged as a pattern day trader and your account is below $25,000, your account will be restricted from entering new positions. If you cannot meet the minimum requirements, then you will no longer be able to day trade. If you can meet the minimum requirements to qualify as a day trading account and decide to set your account as such, there is no limit as to the number of day trades that can be placed.

You may apply for a day trading account through your account portal at myaccount.intlimecoprod.wpengine.com under “account features”, margin type. You must deposit and maintain at least $25,000 of equity in your account.

You are allowed to enter a limited number of day trades in a margin account without being flagged as a pattern day trader. In a margin account, if you exceed 3 day trades in a 5 day rolling period, our clearing firm will flag your account as a pattern day trading account. Once flagged, an email notification will be issued the following morning. Accounts with balances below $25,000 will be restricted to liquidations only till the balance is brought above $25,000.

You need to open a margin account which can be done by completing a Margin Agreement. You need to maintain a minimum of $25,000 total account equity. You must also submit the Day Trading Agreement and Risk Disclosure. Please refer to FINRA’s Investor Guidance for more information.

Once you are flagged as a pattern day trader, this designation cannot be reversed. From this point forward, you cannot enter any day trades while your account is below the minimum requirements for a day trader. If you would like to continue day trading, you must submit the Day Trading Supplement. Lime Trading offers a one-time forgiveness, where you may submit a Change of Strategy in order to revert to a regular margin account. Your Lime Trader platform also provides day trading count information.

If you fall below the $25,000 minimum in your day trading account, you will be restricted from trading until your account meets the $25,000 minimum or until you submit a Change of Strategy (can only be submitted once).

When logging into your account, select “Forgot Password.” A new temporary password will be generated and sent to your email address. Alternatively, you may email [email protected] and request password reset instructions be sent to your email.

Your account must be free of any securities or cash before we can close your account. If the account has no cash or positions left, you can selected “Close Account” under the “My Profile” tab within your client cabinet. Alternatively, you may request to close account by contacting [email protected].

Please contact Lime Trading through live chat, phone, or email for more details on how to remove securities that have no current market.

Contact a Lime representative via live chat, email or phone. Live chat is available on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. You may also email us at [email protected] or calling toll-free at: 1-855-274-4934.