Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering

How expensive is it to keep minimal cash at a brokerage?
Losses at a brokerage firm due to fraud are insured up to $500,000 per account for securities  by the SIPC (Securities Investors' Protection Corporation), which is the stock market version of the FDIC (that insures deposits). The protection amount for cash is $250,000. That's small comfort to "big" players in MF Global. But it does protect "small" investors like you.