Well then, how in the hell do I and thousands of other daytraders operate with a deposit of 5k? There are ways around everything. Again, I am not even addressing whether or not 5k is sufficient for most. I'm just saying, it's the standard.
The recommendation for interactive brokers is a good one. Re the 7500, yes you can daytrade with 7500. Pick a small index futures contract like the Dow mini or Russell ER2 and see if you can apply your swing trading rules to them. A rule more often broken than observed is to successfully daytrade on paper do 4 successive weeks before you move to cash (use bracket trader, ninja trader or such as a front end to IB to help with this) - its a great rule though. Once you paper trade for a month winning every week then move to 1 contract. Only step up again after 1 successful month. Patience is the key to setting up good habits and trading well. If you're doing well with swing trading then I'd suggest that, once you finish the paper trading phase, you take 5000 and allocate it to the futures day trading while you keep swing trading with the other 2500. Initially keep swing trading the whole lot to build up your funds. Good luck (you will probably need it).
PDT rules apply only to stock and/or option accounts. Futures, FX, etc accounts ARE NOT affected by PDT rules If that is not the answer for you then... 1) Your stock/option account is clearing via a non-USA clearing firm. -or- 2) Your brokerage is a scam and can/should be closed down. Take your $$ while you can. -or- 3) you do more posting on ET per day than you do actual trades. Profile For FaderTrader Date Registered: 12-07-05 Status: Total Posts: 343 (2.18 posts per day)
I post on here when I'm bored or when the market isn't moving. I see nothing wrong with it... When you put up 5k at a trading firm, you are buying Class B shares in an LLC. The LLC itself adheres to the PDT rules and the Class A holders are entitled to commissions generated by Class B holders in excess of the base rate that the LLC pays to the clearing firm as well as any negotiated percentage profit split of the Class B holders Net profits.
does this guy sound like he has a series 7? . yes there are partnerships which are customers and the requirement can be 5k for which you pay a high commission and a precentage of your profits. these are not trading pr prop firms which require SERIES 7.