saying it is discriminatory says nothing. ALL laws are discriminatory. the question is - is it 1) legal 2) good policy 3) etc. to discriminate this way?
Shouldn't a newbie be allowed to trade with risking less money, say 5k, instead of saving up 25k and then blow it all? Futures is an option but they are too leveraged. The PDT rule sucks for the little guy who wants to get his feet wet and maybe start out small trading just a few shares. This rule makes no sense.
FINRA should change the rule as if it is a cash account, then you can only trade with settled funds. So, make it that way for Margin accounts. If you can't cover, then you can't play. The whole issue comes down to shorts, only day traders (with $25K +) can short stocks giving them a huge advantage over the small trader. Cash accounts will not allow shorts. By the way...this rule discriminates and is still illegal in the U.S to do so.