Summary
Yes. Your nsave Invest account is opened with Alpaca Securities LLC, a US broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. If Alpaca were to fail, SIPC protects the securities and cash in your account up to $500,000, including up to $250,000 in cash. Alpaca also carries additional (excess SIPC) insurance above these limits.
What is SIPC?
The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is a US non-profit organisation that protects customers of member brokerage firms if the firm fails financially and customer assets are missing. It covers you whatever your nationality or country of residence. Non-US customers get the same protection as US customers.
How much is covered?
Protection | Limit |
SIPC: securities and cash combined | Up to $500,000 per customer |
SIPC: cash (uninvested buying power) | Up to $250,000 of the $500,000 |
Excess SIPC (Lloyd's of London), above SIPC limits | Up to $75 million in securities and $75 million in cash per customer, subject to a $250 million aggregate limit across all Alpaca customers |
What isn't covered?
Market losses. SIPC and excess SIPC don't protect you if the value of your investments falls.
Money outside your Invest account. Funds in your nsave USD or GBP accounts aren't held at Alpaca and aren't covered by SIPC. They're protected through safeguarding instead (see below).
Bad investment advice or unauthorised account access. SIPC covers missing assets when a brokerage fails, not fraud on your account or poor investment decisions.
Certain asset types. These include commodity futures, foreign currency trades and investments not registered with the SEC.
Your assets are also held in your name
SIPC is a backstop. Your first layer of protection is that your investments are held in a named account in your name, segregated from both nsave's and Alpaca's own funds. They can't be used to cover either company's obligations.