Create an Account Group for Share Allocation

You can use an Account Group to automatically calculate ratios and allocate shares to a pre-defined group of accounts based on a selected allocation method. When you create an order and choose a group, the order uses the default method to allocate shares among the accounts in the group.

 

To create an Allocation Account Group

  1. From the menu select Advisor Setup.

  2. In the Advisor Setup window select the Groups tab.

  3. Click Create Group.

  4. Enter a descriptive name for the new group. Do not use the name "All" since this is reserved by the system.

  5. Select an allocation method to assign to the group. See allocation methods below.

  6. Add accounts to the group. Use the "+" to add an account.

  7. When all accounts have been added to the Allocation group, click Create.

Allocation Methods

Select a default allocation method to apply to a group. You can select an allocation method for each order.

  • AvailableEquity: Requires you to specify an order size. This method distributes shares based on the amount of available equity in each account. The system calculates ratios based on the Available Equity in each account and allocates shares based on these ratios.

Example: You transmit an order for 700 shares of stock XYZ. The account group includes three accounts, A, B and C with available equity in the amounts of $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 respectively. The system calculates a ratio of 1:2:4 and allocates 100 shares to Client A, 200 shares to Client B, and 400 shares to Client C.

  • NetLiq: Requires you to specify an order size. This method distributes shares based on the net liquidation value of each account. The system calculates ratios based on the Net Liquidation value in each account and allocates shares based on these ratios.

Example: You transmit an order for 700 shares of stock XYZ. The account group includes three accounts, A, B and C with Net Liquidation values of $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 respectively. The system calculates a ratio of 1:2:4 and allocates 100 shares to Client A, 200 shares to Client B, and 400 shares to Client C.

  • EqualQuantity: Requires you to specify an order size. This method distributes shares equally between all accounts in the group.

Example: You transmit an order for 400 shares of stock ABC. If your Account Group includes four accounts, each account receives 100 shares. If your Account Group includes six accounts, each account receives 66 shares, and then 1 share is allocated to each account until all are distributed.

  • User-Specified: This selection allows you to create group allocation methods that require user-defined values such as number of units, per-account ratios, per account percentages and per-account monetary amounts.

  • Contracts/Shares: Indicate how many contracts/shares to allocate to each account in the group. After you add accounts to the group, use the empty field to the right of each account to specify an exact number of units to be allocated. This method calculates the order size by adding together the number of shares allocated to each account in the group.

  • Ratio-Based: The Ratios method calculates the allocation of shares based on the ratios you enter. After you add accounts to the group, use the empty field to the right of each account the allocation ratio. For example, an order for 1000 shares using a user-defined method that includes four accounts set to a ratio of 4, 2, 1, 1 would allocate 500, 250, 125 and 125 shares to the listed accounts, respectively.

  • Percent-Based: The Percentages method will split the total number of shares in the order between listed accounts based on the percentages you indicate. After you add accounts to the group, use the empty field to the right of each account to specify the per-account allocation percentage. For example, an order for 1000 shares using a user-defined method that includes four accounts at 25% each would allocate 250 shares to each listed account in the group.

  • Monetary Amount: The Monetary Amount method calculates the number of units to be allocated based on the monetary value assigned to each account. After you add accounts to the group, use the empty field to the right of each account to specify the monetary value that will be used to calculate unit allocation. The total order quantity is determined by adding together the specified monetary amounts and dividing by the current price.

Also, while the available Group methods no longer include the Percent Change method as a selection (only Percent-Based), this method can be used to calculate the order quantity when the Group includes positions in the selected instrument. In this circumstance, the Quantity field will show a "% Change" section where you can choose the percent by which you want to increase or decrease positions. Once calculated, the Quantity field will display the percent with either Ind or POS. See details in the Create an Order for Multiple Clients topic.