I recently acquired a margin account in Scottrade.?

Question

But for some reason I was only granted 2,000 dollars. My cash account is 17,000. Shouldn't i get 17,000 in marginal funds?

Answer 1

Sounds like a paperwork problem.  You can't use assets in the cash account to secure a margin loan; you can only use assets in the margin account.  Call them and have them transfer your money from the cash to the margin account.

Answer 2

No sure what you mean "granted", brokerage firms do not "grant" you any thing.  

If you have 17,000 in your cash account, it will remain in your cash account until it is needed in your margin account.

But, if you want you can have the firm journal the 17,000 to your margin account, at which time you will have $34,000 in buying power.

There is no such thing as "marginable funds".  You can have 1-a balance, 2-an SMA, 3-Buying Power, 4-free credit, 5-working cash, 6-unsettled balance BUT not "marginable funds"

I think you should do more studying about margin accounts, (you can get this from your broker) before you do any transactions in the account.

It is always best to know what you doing, why you're doing it and how to do it, before you do something you shouldn't