Large capital in order to trade?

[outthislife]

For every trade there's a T+3 holding period, and then there's the $25k bar that gets set if you "day trade" more than 3 times in a week - right?

So do you just plop $25k in the account to get over that, and use what's left for trading? And then with the settling period, you only use so much of what you have per trade (2%?)?

 

[Rhody Trader]

Ignore the settlement bit. If you're going to be a "pattern day trader" you'll need an account worth at least $25k. That doesn't mean that always needs to be in cash. It can also be in securities, so you're free to trade it. You don't need to have $30k to be able to trade with $5k, for example. Obviously, though, you need to provide some cushion against losses.