Just a clarification, pattern day trading is when one opens and closes four positions in the same stock in five trading days? Not four positions in different stocks, or in five days, weekends included? Thanks for the help... allot of 'official' sites seem contradictory.
You cannot do more than 3 round trips every 5 business days ...in other words you can only buy and sell a stock on the same day 3 times in 5 days.
http://www.sec.gov/answers/patterndaytrader.htm Pattern Day Trader FINRA rules define a âpattern day traderâ as any customer who executes four or more âday tradesâ within five business days, provided that the number of day trades represents more than six percent of the customerâs total trades in the margin account for that same five business day period. This rule represents a minimum requirement, and some broker-dealers use a slightly broader definition in determining whether a customer qualifies as a âpattern day trader.â Customers should contact their brokerage firms to determine whether their trading activities will cause them to be designated as pattern day traders. A broker-dealer may also designate a customer as a âpattern day traderâ if it âknows or has a reasonable basis to believeâ that a customer will engage in pattern day trading. For example, if a customerâs broker-dealer provided day trading training to such customer before opening the account, the broker-dealer could designate that customer as a âpattern day trader.â Under FINRA rules, customers who are deemed âpattern day tradersâ must have at least $25,000 in their accounts and can only trade in margin accounts. For more information on pattern day traders and related FINRA margin rules, please read the SEC staffâs investor bulletin âMargin Rules for Day Trading.â
Same stock or different stock. More than 3 roundtrips in a 5 day period = pattern daytrading. US stock market does not trade on weekends. Ohh wait you meant is the weekend included in those 5 days. No. If you do 3 round trips on Friday, you have to wait until next Friday before you can do another one.