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How to Start a Regular Savings Plan

1. What is a Stock RSP?

Regular Savings Plan (RSP) is a recurring investment plan that buys a specified stock at regular intervals with a fixed amount. For example, set a plan to automatically buy USD 10 of a Apple (AAPL) stock every Monday.

Stock RSP uses dollar-cost averaging to reduce the impact of market volatility over time. By investing a fixed amount at regular intervals, fewer shares are bought when stock prices are high and more shares when stock prices are low.

 

2. Investment Process

2.1 Start your RSP

You can create an investment plan anytime, and set the investment symbol, amount, and date.

Once set, the system will place a market order for the specified stock(s) at around 10:30 AM Eastern Time (ET) on the scheduled investment date. If the scheduled date is not a trading day, the order will be placed on the next available trading day at around 10:30 AM (ET).

2.2 US fractional shares permissions

Users should apply for permission to US fractional shares trading.

2.3 Create RSP Plan

2.3.1 Select paying account

Sufficient funds: Deposit funds to your paying account in USD and ensure there is sufficient purchasing power on the investment day, otherwise margin financing will be used.

2.3.2 Select eligible stocks

Only certain stocks are eligible for RSP.

Please visit Stock RSP > RSP Rankings > View All

2.3.3 Select an investment amount

The minimum investment amount is $10.

Note: The investment amount does not include transaction fees, which are charged separately.

2.3.4 Select a contribution frequency

You can invest daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly (excluding the 31st).

If there is a holiday, the execution will be postponed until the next available trading day. If the next available trading day is also an investment day, the investment plan for that day will be executed and the original investment plan will not be executed to avoid extreme situations of over-investment on the same day.

For example: Mr. Wang sets up a daily investment plan and encounters a New Year's Day holiday on January 1st. January 2nd is a normal trading day, and the system will only execute Mr. Wang's investment plan for January 2nd, not the one for January 1st.

2.4 Order executions

After placing an order in your RSP, the actual order amount may differ due to the order calculation, and the order may execute successfully or fail.

2.4.1 Order execution

Securities prices may fluctuate significantly, and there is no guarantee of profit or protection against losses. If the designated investment amount is insufficient to purchase a whole share, fractional shares will be purchased.

2.4.2 Successful order

The actual cost will be based on the order price. After the successful execution of the plan, the purchased stocks can be viewed in your holdings.

2.4.3 Failed order

Your order may fail for one of the following reasons below.

a) Buying 0 shares while funds are sufficient may be due to an illiquid market. Other extreme situations may include technical issues that can't be resolved immediately.

b) Holding a short position for the same stock. If the stock has a short position in your account, the short position will be retained and the order execution will fail.

c) Insufficient purchasing power: If the maximum purchasing power in your account is insufficient on the scheduled investment day, the order execution will fail.

d) Other reasons: If the stock is suspended from trading, or if it's no longer supported for Regular Savings Plans or fractional share trading, then the order execution will fail. The Regular Savings Plan may also fail if either the user or the stock is prohibited from trading.

Disclaimer: Securities prices may fluctuate significantly, and there is no guarantee of profit or protection against losses. If the designated investment amount is insufficient to purchase a whole share, fractional shares will be purchased.

2.5 View RSP orders

You can view RSP orders and stocks with RSP tags by going to:

  • Accounts > Select an account > Orders

Alternatively, to check the details of your saved plans you can also go to:

  • Accounts > Select an account > More > RSP > My Investments

2.6 Adjust, pause, or stop your RSP

You can adjust the plan as you like, such as the investment amount or contribution frequency, or pause the Regular Savings Plan after creating it. There is no limit to how many times you can adjust each plan.

  • Any adjustments made after 9:00 AM (ET) on the day of scheduled investments will take effect on the next scheduled investment day.

  • If you stop an RSP, it cannot be recovered, and you would need to create a new plan if you want to resume investing regularly.

 

Manage your RSP: You can adjust, pause, or stop the plan at any time. You can adjust the investment amount and contribution frequency.

  • Pause the plan: The next scheduled investment will not be executed. You can also resume the plan later if needed.

  • Stop the plan: Subsequent investments will not be executed, and you can't resume it. If you wish to continue investing, you will need to start a new investment plan.

  • Automatic termination: For universal account payments, if the payment fails three times consecutively in a row, the investment plan will be automatically terminated.

2.7 RSP reminders

You'll receive push notifications and in-app messages to remind you of your Regular Savings Plan three days and one day before each scheduled investment day at 10:00 AM ET.

You also receive notifications of any successful or failed orders in your plan.

If your plan stops due to insufficient funds after three consecutive failed attempts, we'll let you know that it has been terminated.