Company Stock Intraday Trading

[Guest btooz]

For all the 401k providers out there...do any DC providers currently offer plans the ability to have plan-level Company Stock trades performed throughout the day instead of only at day's end?

From what I understand, most providers accumulate participant stock buys and sells until about 2pm (likely to help reduce the number of trades performed on behalf of the plan each day), and then go to market with the net trade for the plan; each participant receives the share price as executed between 2pm and the market's close, and use those proceeds to purchase another investment in the 401k.

What I'm interested to know is if any providers would go to the market to have 'interim' plan-level trades performed at other times (in addition to the 2pm 'run'); this would theoretically provide participants with an execution price closer to the actual market at the time the trade was executed.

[Guest halka]

Your question presupposes the Plan is using share-accounting (as opposed to unit accounting) for the company stock. If the Plan really wants to provide this feature, I think the only practical means is to have self-directed participant brokerage accounts within the Plan. Otherwise, you are only taking on risks/expense and inviting headaches. Although you did not ask, I think it is stupid to allow "day-trading" of employer stock inside the plan. Typically, the ones that favor this are participants who think they might periodically be able to front-run market-affecting news -- hardly behavior to be encouraged.