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Question about trading (round trip) restrictions on Fidelity funds …

edited September 10 in Other Investing
I can’t ever recall owning a Fidelity fund. Here’s what they say about “round rip” violations:

Roundtrip Transactions

We monitor the number of roundtrip transactions in shareholder accounts. A roundtrip is a mutual fund purchase or exchange purchase followed by a sell or exchange sell within 30 calendar days in the same fund and account. For example, if you purchased a fund on May 1, selling the fund prior to May 31 would incur a roundtrip violation. It is important to remember that share aging FIFO (First In First Out) is not considered when buy and sell transactions are evaluated for roundtrips.

Certain transactions are exempt from roundtrip violations. These include:
Trades for $1,000 or less. (Please note that if more than one buy order or sell order for a given fund is executed on the same day in the same account, the $1,000 threshold is based on the total dollar value of all orders for that fund.)
Any transactions in Fidelity Money Market Funds
Dividend and capital gains reinvestments that are sold within 30 days
Orders placed via Fidelity Automatic Investments or Automatic Withdrawals features


From: Fidelity's Excessive Trading Policy

As I read the above, you could invest $10,000 in a new Fidelity fund on the first day of the month (just a randomly chosen date) and then proceed to transfer out $1,000 a day over the next 10 consecutive days without incurring a violation. Am I right or wrong in that reading?

Thanks.

Comments

  • I think that the 1st buy & the 2nd sell is a round-trip - the amounts don't have to match.

    But if you started with the 2nd sell (as 1st) & continued selling, those would be one-way sells & that would be ok.

    I also checked ultra-ST FCNVX prospectus & it's still exempt from frequent trading.
  • edited September 10
    I “think that the 1st buy & the 2nd sell is a round-trip “

    That sounds more reasonable - though I’d argue the wording of the excerpt I posted seems to imply otherwise.

    Re ultra-short. That’s how T. Rowe ran TRBUX - treated the same as a money market fund when it came to frequent trades.

    Thanks Yogi.
  • msf
    edited September 10
    I also checked ultra-ST FCNVX prospectus & it's still exempt from frequent trading.

    As is FMNDX.

    The frequent trading rule quoted applies just to Fidelity funds. Other NTF funds purchased at Fidelity are subject to a completely different short term trading rule.

    Note also that any trades of $10K (not $1K) or less are ignored. This was changed in 2020 even though it isn't reflected in the cited text.
    https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/mutual-funds/2020-08-31-Excessive-Trading-Policy-Web-Post.pdf

    The wording that Fidelity used in the quoted part of its Excessive Trading Policy is, um, unfortunate. A round trip (a buy and sale w/i 30 days) is not a round trip violation; it's simply a round trip transaction. Fidelity corrected its wording in that 2020 update.

    A violation occurs if you make a second round trip within 90 days:

    Shareholders that place a second roundtrip transaction in the same fund within a 90-day period will be blocked from making additional purchases and exchange purchases into that fund for 85 days.

    Now that's a violation.

    While yogi's interpretation of the 2 round trip violation is consistent with Fidelity's wording, I don't think that's Fidelity's intent.

    Round trip 1 = Buy shares on 1st of month, sell some on 2nd of month
    Round trip 2 = Buy shares on 1st of month, sell some other shares on 3rd of month.

    The underlying idea is that you don't rapidly (frequently) trade in and out of a fund. That's not what you're doing here. Somewhat the opposite. Instead of buying $10K worth of shares and then dumping them all the next day (putting stress on the fund), you're spreading the sale over several days, thus reducing the stress on the fund.

    But now consider this 2 round trip violation:

    Day 1 = buy $30K
    Day 2 = sell $15K (round trip 1)
    Day 3 = sell $15K (round trip 1A)

    Day 87 = buy $11K
    Day 93 = sell $11K (round trip 2)

    That second round trip is not within 90 days of round trip 1, but it is within 90 days of round trip 1A. So there appears to be a violation - two round trips within 90 days.

    Pardon the obvious suggestion here: try asking Fidelity.

  • edited September 11
    ”Pardon the obvious suggestion here: try asking Fidelity.” :)

    Well, I enjoyed @msf’s attempt to make sense of Fido’s wording & updates. Was seriously considering buying the Fidelity bond fund Yogi referenced in a different thread. My concern wasn’t a desire to trade in & out but a recognition I maintain almost 0 cash reserve, So, in the event an emergency expense occurred (my car dies or something like that) I might need to withdraw some of those funds in stages earlier than anticipated. That’s one of the nicer features of ETFs and CEFs.

    Another obvious question: ”Why don’t you keep more in cash?” - Don’t know. Just isn’t the way I’ve done it over the years. May I suggest reading Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” for further insights into this kind of thinking?
  • Perhaps you're thinking of The Road Not Taken, for that has made all the difference.
  • edited September 11
    msf said:

    Perhaps you're thinking of The Road Not Taken, for that has made all the difference.

    Excellent. Frost might have been lamenting a choice of investments in his earlier years. :) :)
  • Frost said he wrote it to tease an overthinking indecisive friend ....

    And:

    https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/11/the-most-misread-poem-in-america/
  • Fido always warns you of a possible round trip transaction before you hit the "Place Order" button.
  • edited September 12
    Robert Frost might be impressed to know his simple 20-line poem has prompted someone to write a 1000 + word explanation. This poem’s never been a favorite of mine. But I hold his longer “The Death of the Hired Man" in high regard. With all due respect to Frost, I think Poe was the better poet.

    “And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee …”

    image

  • Lots of things can happen if you travel down an unknown road. Just ask Bilbo Baggins.
  • @Old_Joe A cousin or other ? Have a nice weekend, Derf
    P.S. The name seems familiar , comics in the papers ?
  • Sorry Derf- that would be telling.
    :)
  • @Old_Joe - I used to know a Bangin Buggins. Am I close?
  • Not even warm.
  • Well, she was.:)
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