How does Composer trade?

After you invest in a symphony or set of symphonies, Composer uses an automated trading system to execute trades to follow the symphony logic.

Automated Trading System

Execution Time: Composer aggregates all trades and executes them during the set daily trading period, which runs from 3:45 to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on normal market days and 12:45 PM to 1:00 PM Eastern Time on days when the market closes early.
Target Allocations: Overweight securities are sold and the funds are used to buy into underweight securities, aiming for target symphony allocations across your portfolio.
Portfolio Updates: Your portfolio information is updated after trading activities are completed during the daily trading period.

Editing Your Symphony

Symphony Adjustments: You can change symphony logic, the stocks and ETFs the symphony holds, and the frequency with which the symphony trades. If you make changes to your symphony, these changes will be executed the next time your symphony is set to trade.
Example of Adjusting Holdings: If you adjust your symphony from 60% SPY and 40% BND to 50% SPY and 50% BND, the reallocation will happen the next time the symphony is set to trade, depending on the symphony’s set trading frequency.

Circuit Breakers

Effect of Circuit Breakers: If a circuit breaker is triggered in a stock or ETF you own or want to own, we may not be able to fulfill your order in the window you want.
Possible Delays: Depending on whether the trigger is a Level 1, 2 or 3, we may not be able to execute your trade on the day you requested it. Regardless of what happens, we will communicate with you and inform you on the conditions that kept us from trading.

Symphony Buys and Sells

Before the Trading Period: Symphony buys or sells before 3:30 PM Eastern Time on normal market days are generally executed the same day, but are not guaranteed to do so. Otherwise, they will be processed the next trading day.
Non-Trading Days: Symphony buys or sells made on non-trading days will be executed during the next market day.

Order Types and Trade Execution

Trading Instructions: The primary way you provide Composer instructions about what stocks and ETFs you want to buy or sell is by creating and investing in symphonies. When you make changes to a symphony, the corresponding trades will complete during the next trading period the symphony is set to trade.
Orders Not Held: Please note that all instructions are considered "not held" orders. Typically, a “not held” order provides the broker-dealer with price and time discretion in handling the order, whereas a broker-dealer must attempt to execute a “held” order.
Time and Price Discretion: Composer exercises time and price discretion with regard to execution. The exercise of time and price discretion has a direct impact on trading and the fill prices the customer can expect to receive. Before placing orders to buy or sell specific securities through the Composer platform, customers are encouraged to consider the extent to which they wish to control price per share and time decisions within their personal trading and investment strategy. Customers who determine such control to be important to their strategy may need to consider alternative investment platforms for those strategies.

What can cause a buy or sell order not to be fulfilled completely?

Insufficient Funds: If there's not enough cash in your account for a buy order, Composer may use margin, if available. If not, the orders will be rejected by the brokerage because of insufficient buying power.
Fractional Share Limitations: A fractional share is equity in a security that is less than one full share. The split puts every share into 1/100,000th of a share so you can trade exact amounts of each based on the targets set in your portfolio. Example: If Stock A is selling for $900 per share, we can purchase Stock A in $.09 increments because 1/100,000 of a share of Stock A is $.09. If a user has a $100 buy order for Stock A, the closest we can get to $100 using a $.09 increment is $99.99.
Sell Orders Not Receiving Enough to Make Buy Orders: When you submit buy and sell orders during the trading period, our system will sell first and then buy using the received funds. If the received funds from the sale are less than expected, the buy orders will be prorated to the funds available.

What can cause a symphony to fail to trade?

Reasons for Trade Failures: There are a number of reasons why a symphony may not trade. The most common reasons are delisted tickers used in the symphony, restrictions placed on your account due to returned ACH transfers, and incorrect symphony logic.
Due Diligence: It's the duty of the user to do due diligence on what assets you’re invested in. If a backtest doesn't work or you think trades should have executed but they didn't, the best practice is to research the assets you're invested in to see if there were any corporate actions that would have affected execution. If you still can't figure out why, we're happy to help diagnose problems: please email us at help@composer.trade.