I was able to make 5 day trades on Robinhood today with a $1000 account. How was I able to make the 5th?

    PDT rules
    byu/Resident_Barracuda48 inoptions



    Posted by Resident_Barracuda48

    4 Comments

    1. Cash account or Margin? PDT only applies to margin accounts. If it is a margin account, as a rule the broker won;’t prevent the trade that causes you go be flagged a PDT. There might be a warning but I guess they figure if you’re old enough to trade you’re old enough to know the rules.

    2. Technically I don’t believe it flags you as a PDT until tomorrow. On the day you go over 3 trades on a 5-day rolling period, it won’t automatically stop you on that day – you can do unlimited day trades that day. The next day you will be flagged/restricted, and you won’t be able to close positions opened on the same day.

      You were able to make the 4th and 5th trade because you don’t have pattern day trade protection on in your account. On Robinhood it’s under **Menu –> Investing –> Day Trade Settings –> Pattern Day Trade Protection**. By turning it on it will warn you in the future if you are at risk of being flagged as a PDT should you attempt to execute 4+ trades in a rolling 5-day period.

      Robinhood support also offers a one-time removal of the PDT designation, but continued violations could potentially cause you to stop accruing interest on your margin account. To understand better you should read the [PDT article](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/pattern-day-trading/) on their website.

      On the flip side, you could downgrade to a cash-settled account rather than margin and have as many day trades as you want. The only downside is that stock/option trades will take one day to settle, so you won’t have your funds/buying power back until the next day.

    3. OptionExpiration on

      Most likely you have a cash account. Federal rules mandate that margin accounts have a minimum equity of $2000. Since you have $1000, there is no way legally you can have a margin account.

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