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How to Handle Fractionals and Money Markets

Rebalancer & Tax Transition Tool Behavior


Fractional Shares in Transition

  • Why fractionals aren't traded: Custodians do not support fractional share trading over FIX.

  • What happens in our tool: Any fractional shares in an account are automatically moved to the APM sleeve during the initial tax transition trade.

  • Best practice: Advisors should be aware that these positions will not liquidate in the transition. They can choose to manage or liquidate them directly if needed.


Positions Without Cost Basis (Money Markets)

  • Why they're excluded: The tax transition analysis requires cost basis data. If none is available (often the case with non-sweep money market funds), the system prompts the user to move the position to the protected sleeve. This ensures the rebalance does not attempt to trade without cost basis data.

  • Liquidation option: If the advisor's intent is to liquidate the money market fund, this can be executed directly within the SMArtX application rather than through the protected sleeve.


Rebalancer Behavior with Non-Sweep Money Markets

  • Key difference vs. Tax Transition tool:

    • The Rebalancer does not evaluate tax impact when generating trades.

    • If a non-sweep money market is included, the system will allow the trade to proceed.

  • Tax fields will simply display no tax impact ($0.00) for those transactions.


Best Practices Summary

  1. Expect fractional shares to move to the APM sleeve; they cannot be traded through the transition.

  2. Money market funds without cost basis must be protected in transition; liquidate them directly in the application if needed.

  3. The Rebalancer will process money markets normally, but tax reporting will show no impact.


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