This is what we know so far. 1. At IB you will be able to make 3 daytrades in five day period in margin account. You will only be suspended for five days if you make more than 3 daytrades. This is much better than they have originally stated because at least one can multiday swing trade with their margin account. Previously they stated that they will only allow 3 positions in any 5 day period. 2. It is not clear what happens with cash only accounts. Someone has once said on this board that he is able to daytrade with cash only account. IB states that they don't allow it. Maybe some other brokers do? 3. For those with 10K or more Echotrade may be a way to go. 4. Those under 10K can swing trade with IB and maybe daytrade if some other broker allows it in cash only accounts. In my opinion if there is demand from smaller traders more solutions to overcome this rule will be found in coming months.
For the smaller capitalised ppl here, it should soon become common knowledge as to which brokers have cash accounts with 3 day clearance (i.e. daytrading impractical - I have heard that IB is one of these, so ppl with less than $25k can no longer daytrade stocks through IB) and which clear cash account balances in real-time (the solution for under-$25k traders)