Cash sitting uninvested in a brokerage account earns nothing. Cash Reserve puts it into SGOV — an ultra-short US Treasury ETF — and keeps the right amount invested as your balance moves.

SGOV, always. The system never trades any other instrument. SGOV holds very short-dated US Treasuries, which is why it's the most conservative system we offer.

The system targets a percentage of your allocatable base — your account value minus the full allocation of every other active system on that account. The default target is 80%.

So if you're running Cash Reserve alongside another system, the other system's allocation is set aside before Cash Reserve calculates anything. It works with what's genuinely left over.

See Cash Reserve settings explained for how to change the percentage.

Every 30 minutes on weekdays, between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM Eastern. It doesn't run overnight or at weekends.

Running frequently doesn't mean trading frequently. Most runs conclude the position is already about right and do nothing.

Only when the position has drifted more than 10% from target. Inside that band, it holds.

This is deliberate. Rebalancing on every small movement would generate constant small trades for no benefit. See How Cash Reserve rebalances.

Market orders, whole shares only. Fractional adjustments are ignored — if the calculated adjustment rounds to zero shares, it holds.

The system takes over your existing shares rather than buying on top of them. See How Cash Reserve rebalances.

With the International setting on, the pattern changes: the system buys at the start of each month and sells before the dividend date, so the return is realized as a capital gain rather than a dividend. Expect a monthly buy-and-sell rhythm rather than a position that simply sits.

This is intended for members subject to US dividend withholding. See Cash Reserve settings explained.

SGOV yields track short-term Treasury rates, so returns move with interest rates rather than being fixed. In normal conditions this has run in the region of 4% a year, but that figure moves with rates and isn't guaranteed.

This system is designed to stop idle cash doing nothing. It isn't trying to produce the returns of the options systems, and it doesn't carry their risk either.

Cash Reserve works with any connected brokerage account, since it only needs to place ordinary equity orders. No options approval required.