Tag Archives: AAT770

Testing a Buy (and Sell) of AAT770 in a BMO InvestorLine Account: Part One, the Buy

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Stock prices for some of my favourites for “month trading” (like TD) have been soaring, diving and swooping back up off the grass like my favourite Penguin kite. (You do know Penguins can’t fly, right?) So I have a small pile of cash sitting in my trading account at BMO InvestorLine. I think I’ll buy some AAT770, the BMO high interest savings account fund, and then if one of my favourites starts heading for the dandelions I’ll sell it to fund a stock purchase.

Since stock prices are high on my favourites today, I can start this test now. If they start to plummet, though, I’ll want to bail quickly. So for this first stage, I’ll put in the buy order.

Tracking a Request to Purchase AAT770 from InvestorLine

Following my own instructions on how to buy AAT770,  I’ll place an order today.

At 12:55 ET on Monday, July 8 2013 I placed the order.

Immediately, when I select Order Status from the Trading Tab, I am provided with the following information:

  • the original order number
  • the symbol: AAT770
  • a description: BMO High Int Sving Account(BIL)
  • the order type: Buy
  • the original order quantity: $2,000,000 (Why don’t you believe me?!)
  • the outstanding quantity: blank
  • the entry date mm/dd: 07/08 (Good thing they clarify which one is the month)
  • the expiry date mm/dd: blank
  • the average fill price: blank
  • the status: submitted

The word submitted is a link but if I click it what opens is a definition of the term.

The original order number is also a link. If I click it the Order Status Details screen opens. That screen has the following information already (minutes after I placed the order.)

  • Original Order Number
  • Symbol: AAT770
  • Fund Name: BMO High Int Svng Account(BIL)
  • Reference Number: this is the same number as the original order number
  • Order Type: Buy
  • Order Quantity/value: $2,000,000 (Honest! Would a Crooks lie to you? OK maybe I exaggerate sometimes.)
  • Load Type: No Load
  • Most Recent Closing Price: $1.00
  • Dividend Option: Reinvest (which is what I asked for when I submitted the order)
  • Settlement Funds: CAD
  • Status: Submitted (same link to the definition)
  • Activity Date/Time: 2013-07-08 12:56

And an informational note:
“This order cannot be changed or cancelled for the following reason:
•  Mutual Fund and/or Fixed Income orders cannot be changed or cancelled online.”

My account balance is also shown in a small box in the upper right side of the screen. At this point it still shows a Cash Balance that *includes* the amount I have just committed to invest in the high interest savings account fund, AAT770.

If I click on the My Portfolio tab, I also still see the amount I just spend included in my Cash balances. That means it’s important to be careful not to overestimate how much cash I have left to spend on equities or other investments today.

At this time, the HISA fund is not appearing on my list of Investments on the My Holdings page.

If I select Transaction History from the list under the My Portfolio tab there is not yet any transaction listed. It does not list the order to buy the fund.

Stay Tuned
Tomorrow, I will check these reporting mechanisms again and see what BMO InvestorLine reports to be happening with my request to purchase this HISA fund. In the meantime, I will have to write a reminder on a sticky note on my monitor not to spend the $2,000,000 I just committed to buying the fund. ; )

Welcome Back: The Buy Continues
On Tuesday, July 9

  • By selecting Order Status under the Trading tab I reviewed my order to buy AAT770. It has now been updated to the Order Status of Filled.
  • Under My Portfolio, I selected Holdings.
    • My Cash Balance has still not been reduced by the amount I spent on the HISA. This is where having that sticky note on the monitor could be very important!
    • My purchase of the AAT770 is still not reported anywhere under My Holdings.
  • Under My Portfolio, I then selected Transaction History.
    Nothing is reported here yet either.

On Wednesday, July 10

  • Under the Trading Tab and selection Order Status I can still see the same Filled information as yesterday and nothing new.
  • Under My Portfolio, after I select Holdings, I see
    • my Cash Balance has finally been reduced by the amount of dollars I deposited in my High Interest Savings Account fund, and
    • under Investments, there is a line item for BMO High Int Svng Account (BIL) – AAT770
  • (If I select Categorize by Asset Class and click the Go button, the line is listed in the Cash equivalents section under the subheading Mutual funds. This is somewhat amusing to me as when I emailed MyLink about these accounts they replied in writing that these are not actually mutual funds. They sure look like they are when you buy them and sell them using the Mutual Funds screen and they report their values under the Mutual Funds subheading!)
  • Under My Portfolio, if I select Transaction History I can now see the line item for the Buy order. Although this is the first time it has shown up, on July 10, it states the activity had a Transaction Date of July 9 and a Settlement Date of July 9.

After the Purchase, the Sale
Now I will enter an order to sell some of my units. I will follow my own instructions in How Fast Can I Sell my BMO InvestorLine AAT770 HISA to Generate Cash to Re-invest?

You have to maintain a balance of at least $5000 but I deposited enough to remove a $5000 portion of the units and still leave over $5000 in the fund. $1,995,000 to be exact. (What do you mean you don’t believe me? Sheesh. I guess I won’t be selling you my shares in Nortel.) UPDATE As of 2017 10 03 the minimum balance is $1 000.

To find out what happens, please read Testing a Buy and Sell of AAT770 in a BMO InvestorLine Account Part Two: the Sell.

Related Reading

Join In
Are you parking your cash waiting for a sweet deal? Do you use a HISA account to try to earn a few bucks while you wait? Please share your experiences with a comment.

How Fast Can I Sell my BMO InvestorLine AAT770 HISA to Generate Cash to Re-invest?

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I recently bought some of the BMO AAT770 CAD High Interest Savings Account fund within my BMO InvestorLine RRSP. I wanted to test how to make the purchase, and to double check for any quirks or fees (although there shouldn’t be any.) Next, I want to test how quickly the cash comes back into my account if I sell my AAT770 so I can re-invest the money in a stock, ETF, mutual fund or GIC. I’ll give you the good news first, then provide the step-by-step instructions for making the sale.

How Long Did It Take for the Cash to Appear in my BMO InvestorLine RRSP Account After I Sold the HISA Fund Units?

Well so far I don’t know! I’m watching my transaction history to find out. Ok, I’m back. Here’s what happened:

  • On April 11, I bought $5000 worth of AAT770.
  • On April 12, the sale settled.
  • On April 16, I placed an order to sell all $5000 worth of AAT770.
  • On April 17, in the Trading tab, Order Status selection, the order to sell is reported as Filled and sold, but in the My Holdings tab, the cash balance has not increased and the holding of 5000 units of AAT770 is still listed.
  • Now, on April 18, at 8 a.m. all $5000 is back in the cash account in my RRSP. In the My Holdings tab, the cash balance has increased by $5000.87 and the listing for AAT770 has disappeared.
  • The deposit of the $5000 investment was back-dated to April 16. You can see the date they claim it was deposited in the Transaction History, but it is back dated.
  • The deposit of the interest of 0.87 was back-dated to April 17. Again you can see this in the My Holdings tab, under Transaction History.

As I said, the money was actually in the account ready to spend on the morning of April 18. So it took the day I placed the trade plus two days for the cash to appear in my account. It appears, though, that the trade settled in the trade day plus one day. So in theory, you could place an order to buy a GIC or mutual fund one day after the day you placed an order to sell your HISA and it would be fine. Given that stocks take even longer to reach the settlement date, you should be able to place an order to purchase a stock on the same day that you issue the order to sell your HISA. I’m a bit leery of all the warnings InvestorLine placed around a possible delay in settling the sale of the HISA fund. I would probably wait for the cash to appear before purchasing anything, just in case. NOTE: all of the days were business days when InvestorLine was up and open for trades. I’m sure it would have been slower if there was a weekend in the middle.

Did I Read / Write that Correctly? InvestorLine Paid Interest on a 7-Day HISA Deposit?!

Yes, much to my pleasant surprise, I actually received $0.87 interest for the time my $5000 was deposited in the AAT770 HISA fund. I did not expect this, as the terms state that interest is calculated daily and paid monthly and it was not month end. Good on InvestorLine and BMO!

How to Sell Units of AAT770 in a BMO InvestorLine Account

  1. First sign in to BMO Investorline.
  2. From the drop-down list, select the account which is holding your AAT770 units. For example, I selected my RRSP account.
  3. Under the My Portfolio tab, review your holdings of the HISA fund.

If you are ready to sell

  1. Click on the AAT770 symbol.
  2. Or from the Trading menu select Mutual Funds.
  3. Either way opens the Mutual Fund Order Entry screen. Remember the cutoff time for selling a mutual fund today is 2 p.m. ET. If you enter the order after that time, it will take another entire business day to be executed. I’m choosing to place my sell order at 10:20 A.M. ET.
  4. From the Action drop-down list select Sell.
  5. In the Fund Symbol field, type AAT770 if you are selling units of the Canadian dollar high interest savings account.
  6. Click on the Recent Closing Price button to
    • Confirm you entered the symbol for the units you want to sell
    • Confirm it still says No Load
  7. In the Amount field, select either All or type in the amount of dollars or units you want to redeem. If applicable, select Dollars or Units from the drop-down list. I selected All. (Well, actually I first tested it by trying to sell $1000 worth, to see if it would let me go below the $5000 minimum holding. The program responded: “Your order was not processed. The following problem is associated with your order: Warning: This transaction will reduce your fund holdings below the required minimum amount. Please adjust or Sell/Switch all.” Rats!)
    UPDATE: As of 2017 10 03 you can hold a minimum balance of $1 000.
  8. In the Contact Phone # field, type your telephone number.
  9. Click on the Review Order button.

Very interesting! I have not actually entered my trading password yet, so the message is not completely accurate. The program responded:

Your order was not processed. The following problem is associated with your order: You may continue with your order or may choose to change/cancel the order. Warning: This order requires manual processing and may be delayed.

I decided to accept the warning and continue. I clicked on the Accept All Warnings button. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

The Mutual Fund Order Review screen opens. It repeats at the top of the screen:

If submitted, you are accepting the following warnings: Warning: This order requires manual processing and may be delayed. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

  1. Review the order details.
  2. If they are acceptable: Type your trading password in the “Please enter your password in order to submit your order” field.
  3. Click on the Submit Order button.
  4. Copy the Mutual Fund Order Confirmation into a document and save it for reference. The Order Reference number will be needed if you have to follow-up with InvestorLine. Again, it states that I have accepted the warning that the order requires manual processing and may be delayed. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

If desired, under the Trading tab, select Order Status. You should see the details of your sell request order for the HISA fund. The current status is Submitted. Related Reading

Join In Do you use a HISA fund to park your cash while waiting for another investment opportunity? Have you found any quirks? Please share your experiences with a comment.