daytrading accounts

hey, i'm very new to trading, and i'm doing my research on daytrading... do you really need 25k to open a "daytrading" account?

tenrocket77 said:

hey, i'm very new to trading, and i'm doing my research on daytrading... do you really need 25k to open a "daytrading" account?

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From what I understand, in the united states, you must have at least 25,000 capital
if you are to be a "pattern daytrader" in the stock market. Which means you make something like 4 or more intraday trades per week. I'm not sure exactly how many.

There are other financial instruments you can daytrade for a lot less like futures and forex. You don't necessarily need 25000 to trade in the stock market however, you may want to think about trading longer timeframes i.e. daily, weekly thus avoiding the need to be so heavily capitalized.

However, if you are the type who would like to trade intraday there are ways.

thank you, that helps a lot. i definately need to do a ton of research. I am looking to trade intraday down the line, maybe not as soon as i had hoped.

Ramrob's correct about the $25k, but if you're short of the initial capital, you can look into any number of private equity trading or Prop firms. A few to check out would be:

1. VCM Trading
2. Worldwide Trading Capital
3. Harmon Trading

I've seen good reviews on all three and you get full daytrading access with only $5k and they'll usually give you alot of extra buying power. A friend of mine's at WTC and he put up $10k and gets $100k for daytrading.

If you've got the $25k to daytrade, then I might check out Terra Nova or Scottrade. Both are pretty low priced firms. On the education side...its all about technical analysis!