It may, of course, reflect a mistake on their part as indicated by wilywilly's reply. If, however, you have a cash account rather than a margin account, note that Ameritrade/Datek recently changed how it calculates cash available for trading. To quote from the @nswer box entry for "Restricted Trading in Cash Accounts":
RESTRICTED TRADING IN CASH ACCOUNTS
On May 29, 2003, Ameritrade implemented changes to its systems relating to the calculation of funds available for trading in cash accounts. If you have any questions concerning the current balance shown on the Web site, please contact a Client Services representative at 800-823-2835.
Under applicable interpretations issued by the staff of the Federal Reserve Board System, cash account clients are prohibited from making a practice of selling securities without having paid for their purchase with "Available Cash" in their account. "Available Cash" includes existing cash in the account, the proceeds of settled sales of fully-paid for securities, and additional cash deposits. Proceeds of a sale of a security where the prior purchase had not yet settled may not be included as "Available Cash" before the settlement date of that prior purchase - which is generally three business days.
The following example illustrates activity that will result in a 90-day restriction:
A client is holding $10,000 cash in a cash account. The client then makes the following transactions:
The client buys a position in Company A for $10,000, applying the $10,000 in cash to pay for the purchase.
The client then sells that position in Company A and nets at least $10,000 in sale proceeds.
Next, the client buys a position in Company B for $10,000, relying on the proceeds of the sale of Company A shares that have not settled to pay for the purchase.
Before the sale of Company A has settled, the client sells the position in Company B and nets $10,000.
In the above example, the client sold Company B shares before paying for them. Trading in this manner in a cash account may result in a 90-day restriction, limiting purchases to the "cash" available in your account on trade date.
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Creation Date: 01/30/2003 2:41:10 PM
Revision Date: 05/30/2003 3:39:26 PM
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