etrade how long for trade to settle
About Settling Trades in Three Days: T+3. Investors must settle their security transactions in three business days. This settlement cycle is known as T+3  shorthand for trade date plus three days..This rule means that when you buy securities, the brokerage firm must receive your payment no later than three business days after the trade is executed.When you sell a security, you must deliver to your brokerage firm your securities certificate no later than three business days after the sale.he longer the period from trade execution to settlement, the greater the risk that securities firms and investors hit by sizable losses would be unable to pay for their transactions. For many years, our markets operated on a T+5 settlement cycle.