About Cash Accounts

The most common type of account is a cash account. In most cases, you must have sufficient cash or securities in your account - called "equity" - before placing an order. In some cases, you may be allowed up to three (3) business days after the purchase date to pay for your transaction.

About Margin Accounts

When approved for this type of account, you can buy securities on credit. You make partial payment for the security and borrow the rest of the purchase price from PrimeVest at competitive rates. Click here for our current margin interest rates.

Example:

You’d like to buy 100 shares of XYZ stock that sells for $80 per share. The current market value of your purchase is $8,000. To complete the purchase on margin, you must have a minimum of $4,000 in your account – called the "initial margin requirement". PrimeVest loans you the remaining $4,000, so you now have a $4,000 debit balance in your account and account equity of $4,000.

The securities you purchase must be approved for margin, and you must maintain the required minimum equity balance – called the "maintenance margin requirement". Click here to learn more about which securities are approved for margin, and the initial and maintenance margin requirements. All securities purchased on margin are held in street name as collateral for the loan. Margin accounts require a separate margin account agreement.

Click here for more information regarding trading on margin.

About Money Market Accounts

Funds in your brokerage account - including credit you receive from the sale of a security, maturity of a bond, or a dividend or interest payment - can earn interest at competitive rates immediately by being automatically swept each day into a money market mutual fund of your choice. Your money market funds are available to pay for - or settle - your purchase transactions.

The money market mutual funds are provided through Federated Securities Corporation, a subsidiary of Federated Investors of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Money market mutual funds are sold by prospectus. For more complete information, including charges and expenses, or to request a prospectus or information on current money market yields, just give us a call. Read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money.

About Options Accounts

An options account allows you to buy and sell put and call options, which can be useful ways to invest or manage financial risk. But options can be highly speculative investments. Most options transactions settle the next business day.

Call us for an options account application to apply for options trading authority.

Note: Options may not be suitable for all investors as the special risks inherent to options trading may expose investors to potentially rapid and substantial losses.

How to Place an Order

You can place orders online virtually any time, day or night, by logging onto the e*PRIMEVEST web site. You should verify you have adequate funds or equity in your account or buying power in your margin account before entering an order online.

Orders are processed every day the New York Stock Exchange is open during normal trading hours - 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Central Time (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. Orders entered near the market close or after market hours will be processed the next morning when the market opens. You can check the status of your orders on the order status screen. Click here for important information about online trading risks, including the risk that you cannot access your account or place orders due to system delays or outages.

Note: Online order placement is subject to scheduled and unscheduled system downtime and outages. Orders may be delayed during periods of high trading volume. Orders cannot be accepted by email. Only orders placed though the e*PRIMEVEST Internet trading site will be processed. Not all services described in this Internet site are available online. Orders placed by telephone may be charged a higher commission than orders placed through the Internet trading site.

When You Must Pay for a Transaction

In most cases, you must have sufficient funds in your account to pay for a transaction before you place the order. Your Investment Executive may in some cases allow you to place an order without sufficient funds in your account. In those cases, you must pay for – or "settle" - the transaction within the following time frames:

• Three Business Days: stocks, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, warrants, rights, units, load mutual funds, unit investment trusts, government agency bonds, zero coupon bonds, and collateralized mortgage obligations.

• Next Business Day: options, Treasury bills, Treasury notes, and Treasury bonds.

• Same Day: no-load mutual funds, low-load mutual funds, jumbo certificates of deposit, and commercial paper.

The settlement date will be shown on the confirmation you receive in the mail. If you're unable to settle a transaction on time, you should contact your Investment Executive or e*PRIMEVEST. Failure to receive a confirmation is not a valid reason for failure to settle a transaction on time.

How to Cancel an Order

You can cancel a pending order before it’s filled. Market orders can be filled in seconds – in most cases they cannot be canceled or changed.

Types of Orders

You can enter several types of orders:

• Market Orders - A market order is an order to buy or sell securities at the best available price. Market orders usually result in immediate execution - although delays can occur. Market orders to buy are executed at the lowest price sellers are asking at the time. This is the "asked" or "offering price." Market orders to sell are executed at the highest price buyers are bidding at the time. This is the "bid" price.

• Limit Orders - A limit order means you'll buy for no more, or sell for no less, than a price you specify. With limit orders, you're speculating that the stock price will move in your favor. If this doesn't happen, you may lose the opportunity to trade at today's price.

• Stop Orders and Stop-Limit Orders - To protect a profit or limit a potential loss, you can place a sell stop order. A sell stop is placed below the current market price. This means, don't sell the stock if it keeps going up, but if it falls at or below your specified "stop" price, sell it immediately. When a stock trades at or through the designated level, it then becomes a market order and is sold at the next best price. A sell stop order doesn't guarantee an execution at or better than your specified price.

Buy stop orders are placed above the current market price, allowing you to purchase a stock after it has exceeded a specified price. These are used by investors who believe further growth is probable only if a stock breaks that specified price barrier. When a stock trades at or through the designated level, it becomes a market order and is purchased at the next best price. A buy stop order doesn't guarantee an execution at or better than your specified price.

You can also enter a stop limit order. A stop limit order becomes a limit order when triggered by the stop price. The order would only be executed at or better than the specified price limit. A stop limit order can be filled completely, partially, or not at all, depending on how many shares are available for purchase or sale at the time of the order.

There are several types of "order qualifiers:"

• Good Until Canceled - A "good until canceled" order remains in effect until executed or canceled. However, we reserve the right to cancel the order if the limit price becomes unrealistic in relation to the market price. If this occurs, we'll send you a notice. We'll send you an acknowledgement of "good until canceled" order the day it's placed, and it will be reflected on your brokerage statement. If you want to change a "good until canceled" order, you must cancel the original order. Subsequent orders for the same security don't cancel your original order.

• All or None - Limit orders placed on relatively thinly traded stocks (low volume per day), run the risk of partial execution. Because commissions are calculated on each day's activity, your limit order could fill over the course of several days. If you don't want this to occur, specify "all or none." This instructs us to fill the entire quantity or not at all.

Example:

You wish to buy 1500 shares of XYZ at 25, but only 500 shares become available to buy at this price. An order marked "all or none" will not receive the 500 share execution. The order will not be filled until all 1500 shares become available.

Confirmations

You will receive a written confirmation in the mail shortly after an order is executed. If you don't receive a confirmation, it may be because:

• Your order was not filled because you placed a limit order and there was no stock available at the price you specified.

• Your order was not filled because you placed an "all-or-none" order and there wasn't enough stock available to fill it.

• Your order was filled but there was a delay in sending your confirmation because of excess trading volume - YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO CANCEL AND RESUBMIT THE ORDER.

Please notify us if you do not receive a confirmation. Click here for important information about on-line trading risks, including the risk of delayed confirmations.

Note: Remember that securities must be paid for or delivered by the settlement date, regardless whether you receive a confirmation. To help ensure that you receive a confirmation, please notify us in writing of any change in your mailing address.

Statements

For each month that your account has activity, you’ll receive a statement showing your account’s history, balance and transactions. If your account doesn’t have activity, you’ll receive a statement at least quarterly.

Protection for Your Account

Because PRIMEVEST is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC"), e*PRIMEVEST customers are protected up to $500,000 (including $100,000 for claims for cash). SIPC coverage applies if a brokerage firm fails, but doesn't protect a securities account against declines in value, such as those that may result from changes in market conditions. An explanatory brochure on SIPC protection and a disclosure statement on the supplemental insurance coverage are available upon request.

Important Information About On-Line Trading Risks

Delays in executing your trades can occur for various reasons. For example, we may manually review and enter your order. We may do this to check the order against your account records, or to verify your account buying power, or to examine for any trading restrictions. Delays can also occur because of system delays and outages, particularly during times of market volatility. You should note that we don't give you direct access to markets, so when you enter an order it doesn't necessarily mean the order will be executed immediately.

These delays can cause trade executions at prices significantly away from the price quoted or displayed at the time you entered your order. You should plan for the possibility of these delays. Click here for more information about trading in volatile markets.

Under your brokerage account agreement, you accept the risk that execution of your order may be delayed. We don't warrant that our service will be uninterrupted or error-free, nor do we make any warranties concerning the timeliness, sequence, accuracy, completeness, reliability or content of any information, service or transaction provided through this web site. We reserve the right to refuse to execute any transactions you order for any reason, including because you don't have sufficient available funds or equity in your account to settle a transaction.

Even after your order is executed, you may not receive confirmation right away that the order has been executed. Confirmations can be delayed for various reasons. You should never assume your order hasn't been executed - even if the execution hasn't yet been reported back to you or your account. Any attempt to shut down and re-boot a computer to resend a previous trade request could result in a duplicate order. You could incur liability for any duplicate orders. You can't cancel an order after it has already been executed, even if the execution hasn't yet been reported back to you.

Information for Informed Investors

The following information is provided by e*PRIMEVEST assist investors in understanding some of the rewards – and risks – on on-line investing.

This section provides information:

• About Trading in Volatile Markets
• About Trading on Margin