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.
Target Allocations: Overweight assets are sold, and the funds are used to buy into underweight assets, 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 assets 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.

Circuit Breakers

Effect of Circuit Breakers: If a circuit breaker is triggered by an exchange in a stock or ETF you own or want to own, we may be unable to fulfill your order in the expected trading period. Please visit Nasdaq for more information on circuit breakers.
Possible Delays: Depending on whether the trigger is a Level 1, 2 or 3, we may be unable to execute your trade on the expected date. Regardless of what happens, we will communicate with you and inform you of the conditions that caused the exchange to trigger the circuit breaker.

Symphony Investments and Sales

Before the Trading Period: Symphony investments or sales made before the day’s trading period are generally executed the same day, but are not guaranteed to do so. Otherwise, they will be processed the next trading day.

Order Types and Trade Execution

Trading Instructions: The primary way you provide Composer instructions about what assets you want to buy or sell is by creating and investing in symphonies. When you change a symphony, the corresponding trades will be executed during the next trading period the symphony is set to trade.
Orders Not Held: Please note that all instructions are considered ‘not held’ orders. A ‘not held’ order provides Composer with price and time discretion in handling the order.
Time and Price Discretion: Composer exercises time and price discretion with regard to execution. The exercise of time and price discretion directly impacts trading and the fill prices the customer can expect to receive. Before placing orders to buy or sell specific assets 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 is not enough cash in your account to fulfill a buy order, the order will be rejected because of insufficient buying power.
Fractional Limitations: A fractional share of a security 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 based on the targets set in your portfolio. A fractional cryptocurrency represents a portion that is less than one full unit of that cryptocurrency. The split puts every cryptocurrency into 1/100,000th of that cryptocurrency with a minimum of 0.000000002 per order, so you can trade exact amounts based on the targets set in your portfolio.
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 several reasons why a symphony may not trade. The most common reasons are restrictions on your account due to returned ACH transfers and incorrect symphony logic.
Due Diligence: It's the user's duty to do due diligence on the assets they’re invested in. If a backtest doesn't work or you think trades should have executed but didn't, the best practice is to research the assets to see if there were any events that would have affected execution. If you still can't figure out why, contact our support team, and we will be happy to help you diagnose the problem.