Originally Posted by gregorygrady
3. Yes, both of these can be done. There is actually a MM fund that you can sign up for right off the bat. If you have unused $$$ in your account, it will automatically sweep to this MM fund daily. I think the MM fund currently pays ~3% interest.
Unless something has changed recently, Ameritrade does not offer the traditional sweep mechanism that most brokerages provide to their customers. My cash never earned interest, and when I called to find out what could be done, they referred me to some product whose application was not readily available on their website.
I decided to transfer all unused cash out of Ameritrade until it was needed for future purchases.