basic day trading starter question

Discussion in 'Trading' started by MrLamar, Jul 16, 2011.

  1. MrLamar

    MrLamar

    I’ve never opened a retail account to day trade in. Is it true that the best leverage I can get is 4-1 as described in the IB website? In casual personal discussions, I’ve heard of arbitrage traders getting up to 40-1 leverage ( although this may have only applied to the early 2000s) but I don’t see anything on the web that suggests that you can get better than 4-1. Am I missing something? And it also seems clear that nobody is supposed to be allowed to trade frequently intraday unless they have put down at least $25000. Is there a way around that, or do all retail day traders have at least $25000 collateral in their account?