IPO access lets you purchase stock in companies at the time they go public. If you submit a request for IPO shares, you might only receive some, or none, of what you requested. The following are some common reasons why.

If you receive an allocation you won't get your allocated shares immediately after the underwriter determines the final price. The final price is usually announced the night before the IPO. If you’re allocated shares, you can expect to receive them the following day.

Leading up to the IPO list date, a price range is used to help determine an estimate of the final price. However, this range is subject to change, and typically the final price isn’t confirmed until the night before the anticipated list date.

If the price of a stock ends up outside of the price range by more than 20%, up or down, you’ll need to actively reconfirm whether or not you still want to purchase the stock at the new price. If you don’t do this within the confirmation window, we’ll cancel your request. Don’t worry, we’ll send you notifications when this happens, so you can confirm your request at the new price.

When a company goes public, it must submit a registration statement to the SEC. This document contains information about the company including finances, business operations, and management plans and practices. The SEC must approve that registration statement (declaring it effective), before a company can proceed with an IPO.

We only get a limited number of shares for each IPO. If customer demand is higher than our supply, we can’t fulfill every request in full. How shares are distributed depends on the allocation method used for the offering:

• Random allocation: We randomly select who gets to buy shares out of all the requests sent in by our customers, with no preference for any specific requester.
• Proportional allocation: Each eligible customer may first receive a minimum number of shares. We then split the remaining shares in proportion to how many shares each customer requested.

For details, check out How is it decided who gets IPO shares? in About IPO Access.

Some regulatory requirements define those who are generally restricted from taking part in IPOs. Generally, if you or an immediate family member work at a broker-dealer, are a portfolio manager, or an executive or director of a public company, you won't have access to this program. For more information, review FINRA Rules 5130 and 5131.