Pattern day trader

Common card · No. 443571

In the United States from 2001 to June 2026, a pattern day trader (PDT) was a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) designation for a stock trader who executed four or more day trades in five business days in a margin account, provided the number of day trades was more than six percent of the customer's total trading activity for that same five-day period. The FINRA rule applied to any customer who bought and sold a particular security in the same trading day (day trades), and did this four or more times in any five consecutive business-day period. The rule applied to margin accounts, but not to cash accounts. A pattern day trader was subject to special rules. The main rule was that in order to engage in pattern day trading in a margin account, the trader was required to maintain an equity balance of at least $25,000. The required minimum equity must have been in the account prior to any day trading activities. Ninety days had to pass without a day trade for a person so classified...

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