Do I need margin investing enabled to trade at Public in a margin account?

There are two ways people often use “margin” - it can reference both an account type and a taking out a loan using your portfolio as collateral.

A “margin account” is a type of brokerage account where you can borrow to purchase securities by using your account equity as collateral. This is an account type you can choose - the alternative for your brokerage account is a “cash account”. Learn more here about choosing between account types.

Once you have a margin account enabled, you can enable margin lending under Margin Management under account settings. Margin investing, also referred to as margin lending, is an extension of credit to you based on your current margin-eligible securities and cash. Margin investing allows you to borrow money to buy securities, with your portfolio balance as collateral. This gives you access to additional buying power based on the value of the securities in your brokerage account and allows you to leverage your existing holdings to purchase securities. Learn more here.

If you have a “margin account”, you are then eligible for “margin investing”. You do not need to enable margin investing in order to have a margin account. However, if you are interested in margin investing, you must enable a margin account.

To review your account type, change between a cash and margin account, or enable margin lending, you can navigate to the Margin Management section of your account settings.

In-App:

● Select the Menu icon ≡ , the icon in the top left corner

● Tap Account Settings

● Scroll down to Investment Settings and click on Margin Management

On Public.com Web:

● Select the Menu icon ≡ , the icon in the top right corner

● Tap Settings and Privacy

● Under Account click on Margin Management