Enhanced DRIP idea - buy on ex-dividend date instead of payment date

First brokerage to implement this idea wins a gold star and a cookie.

You know how the stock price always goes down on the ex-dividend date?

Enhanced DRIP would buy more of the stock on that date.

Normal DRIP waits until the dividend payment date, when the stock price has usually recovered a bit, missing the buying opportunity.

You may ask, how could Enhanced DRIP buy shares if you haven't received the dividend payment yet? Well, Enhanced DRIP could use your core position, spending the amount that was announced. If core funds are insufficient, Enhanced DRIP could auto-liquidate your cash-equivalent positions. If cash equivalents are insufficient, Enhanced DRIP could borrow on margin. If available margin is insufficient, or margin is not enabled, then Enhanced DRIP would finally decide to wait for the dividend payment date.

Normal DRIP should still be available as an option. Statements could say "Enhanced DRIP has improved your cost basis by X amount of dollars, compared to buying on the dividend payment date" to help investors decide if they should keep Enhanced DRIP enabled or go back to Normal DRIP.

Another possible enhancement: allow investors to specify an additional percent to spend. Since ex-dividend dates are effectively a nice little dip, investors may appreciate automatic purchases that are more than just the dividend amount. For example, if the announced dividend is $1.00 per share, and the investor has specified an Enhanced DRIP percentage of 200%, then $2.00 per share would be used for the automatic purchase on the ex-dividend date.