$25k minimum for day trading????? Alternatives?

Hi All,
For Day trading- is there a $25k minimum to day trade (on the NAS)? I was told this from TRADESTATION; they say its to stop losing all their money.

Can this be true? I am also seeking an alternative platform to tradestation, one that provides a live screen and access to trade from. Know of any?

Any advice welcomed, and appreciated.

Regards,
Rabbie.

Yes it is true, to be a Pattern Day Trader (PDT) you have to have an account balance of $25K and this applies to anyone who wishes to trade Nasdaq stocks. This is an SEC ruling that was brought in years ago but the reasons given are not clear as to the real reason why.

An alternate to Tradestation is www.interactivebrokers.co.uk



Paul

thanks for confirming that paul, guess i have no choice but to have more papertrading time!

Rabbie

iamnewandimproved said:

thanks for confirming that paul, guess i have no choice but to have more papertrading time!

Rabbie

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I think its best to try your luck out with spreadbetting first using small amounts . Learn what your true emotions are like even with a small amount of dosh and how everything works. Once you feel in tune and find yourself making the targets selected, and have the capital, try contracts . You dont need big dosh to make money in the markets. I started with spreadbetting and thank god i did.( Finally understood myself and how i react to pirce movement .

Paper trading ok in sorts , but its your mind as they always says that really scares you when you try with real money - sometimes all control could be lost lol. Good luck - it is possible.
If you find your able to get good returns on your spreadbetting with the wide spreads, your laughing. Later on Contracts =even better odds
Reg

Just to fill in the gaps, any account initially starts out as a regular (non day trading) account. Your account is declared day trading if you trade in and out of anything (equity, option, future) three times within a five-day period. You usually have one appeal to the brokerage. The second time this happens, you must bring your account up to $25,000. Until you do, you can't open a trade (but you can close your existing ones).

The requirement was established because many people were entering day trading and losing all their money. The theory is that if you can put together $25,000, then you can afford to lose it because you likely have a lot more stashed somewhere else. It also may keep away a lot of semi-serious people, because few people can easily scrape together $25,000 cash. Day trading is considered too volatile and risky by the government, so they imposed this rule. In practice, I suppose this rule drives people to lose more money in day trading, since they can't experiment with lower amounts, or pushes them toward CFDs or options or futures, which offer an equal level of excitement even swing (short-term) trading.

I personally struggled with this crappy regulation for a year until I scrapped enough money together to hit $25,000. And then, because I was so excited and nervous after waiting and sacrificing for so long, I immediately lost half of it