What is Buying Power?
In your Public account, you will see funds listed under Buying Power. Your buying power is the amount of funds you have available for purchasing assets (stock, crypto, alternative assets, and treasury bills).
Buying power includes your settled funds. It may not include funds that are still settling from trades or recent deposits. It will not include funds that have already been used for purchases.
What are Settled and Unsettled funds?
Settlement for Deposits
When you initiate a deposit into your Public account, there are verification processes that take place between our processing partners and your bank. While deposits are processing, the funds are considered unsettled. Once deposits into your Public account have fully processed, the funds are considered settled. There is a 6-business day settlement time for deposits into your Public account.
Settlement for Trades
After a trade, there is a settlement process as well. Trade settlement is the period of time when the purchased assets are delivered, and the seller receives funds. Funds from a trade settle when the trade settles. Please keep in mind that various asset classes may have different settlement periods.
What is my Cash Balance?
Funds listed under your brokerage Cash balance are all the funds on your account that have yet to be used for purchases - this includes both settled and unsettled funds. If you have a cash balance, but did not receive buying power, this means you have unsettled funds that are not yet available to use for purchases.
Why didn’t I receive Buying Power?
Buying Power for Deposits
If you did not receive instant buying power for a recent deposit, this is typically a result of a balance check performed by our system. If your bank account balance is greater than or equal to 150% of your deposit, you will receive the full amount as instant buying power. If your bank account balance is less than 150% of your deposit but greater than or equal to 100% of your deposit, you will receive a portion of your deposit as instant buying power.
If you did not receive instant buying power, not to worry. Public will provide buying power to your account within 5 business days, even before the funds settle from the deposit.
When you receive buying power does not affect when your funds settle and can be withdrawn. Funds from deposits settle and become available for withdrawal 7 business days after the deposit begins processing.
Buying Power for Settling Trades
There may be a restriction on your account that is keeping your account from receiving instant buying power from sold assets. This could be the result of an account violation such as 4 or more Good Faith Violations which you can learn more about that here. If you’re unsure if your account is restricted, please contact our Member Support Team via in-app chat or email at support@public.com for assistance.