Purpose of This Guide
Every account has the potential to hold cash in four separate places — the Funding Sleeve, the Managed Portfolio Sleeve, the Protected Sleeve, and the Model Sleeve — even though the custodian only ever shows you one blended cash balance. Each sleeve is controlled by a different tool, follows its own rules, and is measured against its own target.
This playbook brings together everything you need to understand how cash flows through an account: where it goes, what controls it, how to monitor it, and what to do when something looks off.
What You'll Be Able to Do:
Identify which of the four sleeves a given dollar of cash is sitting in and what controls it
Explain why a recurring deposit sometimes doesn't generate a trade at the custodian
Recognize why the custodian's single cash figure can sit above any one sleeve's target while all four sleeves are individually on target
Use the CMA and Rebalancer to move cash correctly and avoid common pitfalls
Troubleshoot common cash escalations with confidence
⚠️ IMPORTANT
A trade placed directly at the custodian always reconciles to the Managed Portfolio Sleeve — never to the Funding Sleeve. Trading away at the custodian isn't a mistake and is often the right route. It just means the cash side gets reconciled by hand instead of by the platform.
The Four Sleeves: At a Glance
SMArtX separates an account's cash across up to four distinct sleeves. The custodian shows one blended cash number — SMArtX tracks four. Understanding which sleeve holds which cash, and which tool controls it, is the foundation of everything in this guide.
Sleeve | Who Controls It | What Lives Here | Tool That Moves Cash |
Funding Sleeve | CMA (automated) | Cash held pending a scheduled deposit or withdrawal | Cash Management Application (CMA) |
Managed Portfolio Sleeve | Advisor / Rebalancer | Account-level target cash + custodial trade-away activity | Rebalancer, Target Cash |
Model Sleeve | Manager | Strategy cash — set by the manager, not per account | Automatic drift trades |
Protected Sleeve | Advisor (manual) | Positions/cash frozen from trading activity | Move Positions button (via Account Details) |
A dollar only ever moves between adjacent sleeves through the tool that owns it. Nothing skips a sleeve or moves backward on its own:
CMA moves Funding cash in and out of the Managed Portfolio Sleeve
Rebalancer moves Managed Portfolio cash in and out of Model Sleeves
Move Positions button (in Account Details) transfers cash between the Managed Portfolio and Protected Sleeves
What Shows Up at the Custodian
The custodian shows one cash number — with no sleeve split. It is simply the sum of all four SMArtX sleeves. Because each sleeve is measured against its own target independently, the combined figure can sit above any single sleeve's target while all sleeves are individually on target.
ℹ️
Don't read a high blended cash balance at the custodian as a problem on its own.
Check each sleeve against its own target before assuming something is off.
Custodian Cash Looks High — Check Each Sleeve |
Funding Sleeve: Is there uninvested CMA cash waiting to be deployed? |
Managed Portfolio Sleeve: Is cash within the advisor-set Target weighting and threshold band? |
Model Sleeve: Manager's Discretion, no advisor action |
Protected Sleeve: Has cash been intentionally frozen here? |