In a cash account, all trades must be settled in cash on the settlement date, which occurs two days after the trade date for most securities. A margin account, however, is quite different.

For instance, if they opened their margin account with the $2,000 minimum, an investor could purchase up to $4,000 worth of stock using the $2,000 in their account and an additional $2,000 ...

Your net account balance would still look like you have $1,000, but it would show up as $2,000 in stock and a $1,000 margin loan from your broker. If the stock went up from $10 to $12, that's a 20 ...

For folks with more stock market expertise and higher risk tolerance, margin accounts might be suitable if the chance of higher gains and the flexibility of investing on margin is more appealing.

Margin accounts are distinct from cash accounts ... Sometimes experienced traders use margin to bet on a stock with strong momentum and then take profit when price movements slow.

Using a margin account increases risk by allowing purchases with borrowed money, up to 50% of account value. If stock prices drop, margin users might owe more than their investment's current worth.

and you can use the money for other purposes than buying stock. For example, let's say you have $10,000 cash in your brokerage account. You decide you want to use a brokerage margin loan to ...