Trade Settlement

For cash accounts, securities traders must pay for purchased securities by the regular way settlement date, meaning that payment must be made by the second business day after the trade date for stocks and corporate bonds. We sometimes see this referred to as T + 2, for trade date plus two business days. U.S. Treasuries and option trades have a regular way settlement of one business day after the trade date, abbreviated as T + 1. Sellers must deliver the securities by the settlement date as well.