Pattern Day Trading Rules: What Investors Should Know | Ally (2024)

INVEST

  • Feb. 27, 2024
  • 3 min read

What we'll cover

If you're a regular day trader, you may know that understanding pattern day trading (PDT) rules can help you avoid complications. Even if you don't plan to day trade often, it's critical to understand exactly what constitutes a day trade.

First, what is a day trade?

Day traders open and close a position during the same day with the goal of profiting off any price changes, whether that means buying a security once the value goes up or short selling it if they think the stock will go down. Day traders try to use the market's volatility to their advantage, no matter which way it goes — up or down.

Like with all investing, but especially short-term, day trading comes with risk, since it's all about taking a chance on small price movements.

So, what is a pattern day trader?

Sometimes, day traders who use margin (increased leverage) with one account exceed four (or more) day trades in five business days.

When that happens, their brokerage firm must mark their account as that of a pattern day trader, provided that the number of day trades represents more than 6% of their total trades in the margin account for that same five-business-day period. Keep in mind a brokerage can choose to be stricter than the FINRA rules, so check the details with your specific firm.

Pattern day trading rules & examples

Patter day trading rules don't prevent trading — and they can help to protect traders.

What are the PDT rules?

PDT rules come from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Under the PDT rules, you must maintain minimum equity of $25,000 in your margin account prior to day trading on any given day. If the account falls below the $25,000 requirement, you cannot day trade until you are back at or above the $25,000 minimum.

Read Ally Invest's full day trading disclosure.

Brokers usually lock the account as soon as this rule gets triggered, but the lockout period varies, depending on the broker's guidelines.

You must follow the same margin requirements if you're an occasional day trader, meaning you must have a minimum equity of $2,000 to initially buy on margin and meet the Regulation T requirements .

You must have:

  • 50% of the total purchase amount

  • Keep at least 25% equity in your margin account

Examples of pattern day trading

Let's look at an example of what might constitute a day in the life of a day trader:

Pattern Day Trading Rules: What Investors Should Know | Ally (1)

Now, let's see how you might become “labeled" as a pattern day trader. Let's say you open a $10,000 trading account, then:

  • On Monday, you trade ABC stock.

  • On Tuesday, you trade DEF stock.

  • On Wednesday, you trade XYZ stock.

Since the pattern day trading rules trigger when you make four or more trades in a five business-day period, you can't day trade again until the next Monday. You can sell existing holdings provided they were not purchased the same day.

What happens if I’m flagged as a patter day trader?

Once your account triggers the PDT rules, your broker can issue you a margin call if you hold less than the minimum PDT equity requirement. You have, at most, five business days to deposit funds or eligible securities or raise your account to meet the call. If the call is not met, you may experience restricted, but not suspended, trading.

If you don't meet the margin call after five business days, your broker may place you under a 90-day cash restricted account status until you meet the $25,000 minimum.

Note: Ally Invest's Self-Directed Trading platform gives you a warning message if you start making your third day trade.

Leverage: A double-edged sword

Although you might think there is great benefit in accessing increased margin with a pattern day trade account, you can lose money.

In fact, when you day trade with borrowed funds, you can lose more than your initial investment. Since expenses can pile up quickly, you must monitor and control this expense.

Be prepared

Whether you’re a savvy trader or paper trading for the first time, take care to continue honing your investing skills and stay in-the-know on all things day trading.

Pattern Day Trading Rules: What Investors Should Know | Ally (2024)

FAQs

Pattern Day Trading Rules: What Investors Should Know | Ally? ›

Under the PDT rules, you must maintain minimum equity of $25,000 in your margin account prior to day trading on any given day. If the account falls below the $25,000 requirement, you cannot day trade until you are back at or above the $25,000 minimum.

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading? ›

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading? A risk management principle known as the “3-5-7” rule in trading advises diversifying one's financial holdings to reduce risk. The 3% rule states that you should never risk more than 3% of your whole trading capital on a single deal.

What is the 6% rule for pattern day traders? ›

Who Is a Pattern Day Trader? According to FINRA rules, you're considered a pattern day trader if you execute four or more "day trades" within five business days—provided that the number of day trades represents more than 6 percent of your total trades in the margin account for that same five business day period.

What happens if you are flagged as a PDT but have over 25,000? ›

When a customer with more than $25,000 is flagged as a PDT, the customer can day trade for unlimited times if he/she has sufficient day-trading buying power(DTBP). Your DTBP is equal to the excess maintenance margin that is available in your account multiplied by two (or by four, brokers can adjust the leverage).

How do day traders know what to invest in? ›

Typically, the best day trading stocks have the following characteristics: Good volume. Day traders like stocks because they're liquid, meaning they trade often and in high volume. Liquidity allows a trader to buy and sell without affecting the price much.

What is the 80 20 rule in trading? ›

In investing, the 80-20 rule generally holds that 20% of the holdings in a portfolio are responsible for 80% of the portfolio's growth. On the flip side, 20% of a portfolio's holdings could be responsible for 80% of its losses.

What is 90% rule in trading? ›

The 90 rule in Forex is a commonly cited statistic that states that 90% of Forex traders lose 90% of their money in the first 90 days. This is a sobering statistic, but it is important to understand why it is true and how to avoid falling into the same trap.

How much money do day traders with $10,000 accounts make per day on average? ›

With a $10,000 account, a good day might bring in a five percent gain, which is $500. However, day traders also need to consider fixed costs such as commissions charged by brokers. These commissions can eat into profits, and day traders need to earn enough to overcome these fees [2].

What is the golden rule of day trading? ›

Let profits run and cut losses short Stop losses should never be moved away from the market. Be disciplined with yourself, when your stop loss level is touched, get out. If a trade is proving profitable, don't be afraid to track the market.

What is the most successful day trading pattern? ›

Ascending & descending triangle

This is one of the best chart patterns for day traders to know as it tends to indicate a breakout towards an upward trend. This means a good chance at making big profits. To draw the trend lines, look for two swing highs and two swing lows on your chart.

How do you avoid being flagged as a pattern day trader? ›

On the 2nd and 3rd day trades, you'll be given a few options to help avoid getting flagged. Switch to a cash account. A cash account isn't subject to PDT regulation. This will allow you to continue day trading and participating in the Stock Lending and Brokerage cash sweep programs.

Is it legal to buy and sell the same stock repeatedly? ›

Just as how long you have to wait to sell a stock after buying it, there is no legal limit on the number of times you can buy and sell the same stock in one day. Again, though, your broker may impose restrictions based on your account type, available capital, and regulatory rules regarding 'Pattern Day Traders'.

How to get around pattern day trading rule? ›

How to Avoid the Pattern Day Trading Rule
  1. Open a cash account. If a day trader wants to avoid pattern day trader status, they can open cash accounts. ...
  2. Use multiple brokerage accounts to avoid the PDT Rule. ...
  3. Have an offshore account. ...
  4. Trade Forex and Futures to avoid the PDT Rule. ...
  5. Options trading.
Dec 30, 2022

Can you make 100k day trading? ›

Can You Make 100k a Year Day Trading? For a day trader to make 100k a year trading, they need to make $397 per day since there are 252 trading days. Most day traders are not profitable, though.

How much does the average day trader make a year? ›

The average income of a day trader varies widely, depending on factors like experience, strategy, and market conditions. While some traders can make over $100,000 per year, many others struggle to break even.

What is the 60 30 10 rule in trading? ›

This reinventive basic rule to portfolio structure means allocating 60% to equities, 30% to bonds, and 10% to alternatives. The exact percentages may vary by portfolio, but the key idea is that Alternatives should be an integral part of every portfolio, in some percentage.

What is the golden rule of traders? ›

Let profits run and cut losses short Stop losses should never be moved away from the market. Be disciplined with yourself, when your stop loss level is touched, get out. If a trade is proving profitable, don't be afraid to track the market.

What is the 3 30 rule in trading? ›

This rule suggests that a stock's price tends to move in cycles, with the first 3 days after a major event often showing the most significant price change. Then, there's usually a period of around 30 days where the stock's price stabilizes or corrects before potentially starting a new cycle [1].

What is the 70 30 trading strategy? ›

The 70/30 RSI trading strategy has two threshold levels

The RSI, which has a range from 0 to 100, is commonly used to identify overbought or oversold conditions in a market. The 70/30 RSI strategy involves setting two threshold levels on the RSI indicator: 70 for overbought conditions and 30 for oversold conditions.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Nathanial Hackett

Last Updated:

Views: 6218

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (72 voted)

Reviews: 87% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Nathanial Hackett

Birthday: 1997-10-09

Address: Apt. 935 264 Abshire Canyon, South Nerissachester, NM 01800

Phone: +9752624861224

Job: Forward Technology Assistant

Hobby: Listening to music, Shopping, Vacation, Baton twirling, Flower arranging, Blacksmithing, Do it yourself

Introduction: My name is Nathanial Hackett, I am a lovely, curious, smiling, lively, thoughtful, courageous, lively person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.