The pattern day trader rule changed. Here is what replaced the $25,000 floor.

For years the pattern day trader rule was one of the biggest regulatory walls in front of a small account in the US. Any margin account that made four or more day trades in five business days had to hold $25,000 in equity, or it was restricted from day trading.

On June 4, 2026, FINRA replaced that rule. The day trade count and the $25,000 minimum are gone, and an intraday margin rule took their place. Brokers that need more time may phase the change in until October 20, 2027, so your broker may still be counting day trades today. Check its own page on day trading before you plan around either version.

What the old rule said

FINRA Rule 4210 treated a margin account as a pattern day trader when it did all of these:

One. Made four or more day trades within five rolling business days.

Two. Those day trades were more than six percent of the account's total trades in the same window.

Three. The account was held at a US broker dealer under FINRA rules.

Once flagged, the account had to keep $25,000 in equity. Below that, it was restricted from day trading until the equity came back.

What replaced it

FINRA's intraday margin rule, in effect from June 4, 2026, watches the margin in the account during the day instead of counting trades. A trade that uses up the account's margin cushion during the day, such as a purchase on margin or a short sale, can leave what FINRA calls an intraday margin deficit.

The broker has to require that deficit covered as promptly as possible, by depositing money or by bringing the account's margin back up. If an account makes a practice of leaving deficits uncovered past the fifth business day, the broker has to stop it from borrowing on margin or opening new short sales for 90 days. Small deficits, no more than five percent of the account's equity or $1,000, whichever is less, do not count toward that.

There is no day trade count and no $25,000 minimum in the new rule. The regular maintenance margin rules did not change. On a margin account, what matters now is how much of the margin cushion a trade uses during the day, not how many trades you take.

While your broker switches over

Until your broker moves to the new rule, it may still flag pattern day traders the old way. If it does, the old count still decides what you can do in that account, so the mechanics below still matter there.

What counts as a day trade

A day trade is opening and closing (or shorting and covering) the same security on the same day in a margin account. Buying AAPL at 10 AM and selling it at 2 PM is one day trade. Buying again at 2:30 and selling at 3:30 is a second.

Closing only part of the position still counts. Buy AAPL at 10 AM and sell half at 2 PM, and the 2 PM sale is a day trade even with the rest held overnight. A position opened on an earlier day and closed today is not a day trade.

When a position is built or closed in several orders, brokers count it in slightly different ways. Ask yours how it counts before it matters.

Options day trades count the same way. Buying an SPY call at 10 AM and selling it at 11 AM is one day trade.

How the old count worked

The window was five rolling business days: today plus the previous four trading days. If today is Friday, the window is Monday through Friday. If today is Wednesday, it runs from the prior Thursday through this Wednesday, because Saturday and Sunday do not count.

If your broker still shows a day trade counter, it is still counting. Check it before any closing order that would make a fourth day trade in the window.

If your broker still runs the old rule

Under the old rule, an account under $25,000 had three ways to keep day trading.

One. Keep day trades to three or fewer in any five day window.

Plan the week. Take the few day trades worth taking and hold other positions overnight as swing trades. The limit also pushes a trader to be more selective.

Two. Use a cash account instead of a margin account.

A cash account was never under the pattern day trader rule, and it is not under the intraday margin rule either. Its limit is settlement. Stocks and most options settle one business day after the trade, and the cash from a sale cannot be used again until it settles.

A trader with $10,000 in a cash account can trade the $10,000 today, then has to wait for the sale to settle the next business day before trading it again.

Cash accounts cannot short, because shorting borrows shares through a margin account.

Three. Hold $25,000 or more in equity.

At $25,000 or more, a flagged account could day trade without the count, within its margin rules.

What was never under the rule

Swing trades held overnight never counted.

Long term investing never counted. Buying and holding for weeks, months, or years was never restricted.

Futures are regulated separately and were never under the pattern day trader rule. Each futures broker sets its own day trading margin.

Forex is regulated separately and never had a pattern day trader rule.

Crypto traded on crypto exchanges (not crypto products listed on the stock market, like spot Bitcoin ETFs) is outside FINRA's rules.

What happened when an account tripped the old rule

The fourth day trade in the window set the flag. If the account's equity was under $25,000, it was restricted from day trading until the equity came back.

Some brokers allowed a one time reset of the flag. If a day trading margin call went unmet, the account could be limited to trading only with cash on hand for 90 days.

Under the new rule, the 90 day restriction comes from leaving intraday margin deficits uncovered, as described above.

The five rules for a small account now

One. Know which rule your broker runs.

Read its page on day trading or ask support. A broker still on the old rule can still flag the account.

Two. While it still counts, track the counter.

If your broker still shows a day trade counter, check it before every closing trade, and do not close anything that would push the count to four.

Three. Use the cash account if day trading is the main activity.

A cash account sits outside both rules. The settlement wait is real but workable with planning.

Four. Default to swing trades on a small account.

Holding overnight never counted toward the old rule, and a swing trade does not lean on intraday margin the way a fast round trip on margin does.

Five. Plan the week in advance.

If your broker still counts, decide before the week starts which setups are worth a day trade and which are overnight holds, so a surprise fourth trade never happens.

Where the audit fits

The audit does not track your day trade count or your broker's margin rules. The intake asks your account size and how you trade, and the setup chapter writes your setup back as you described it. The Historical Audit counts every closed trade and how long each was held, so you can see how many were day trades. Twelve chapters and several thousand words, on a private link that stays yours.