What difference does it make? In this case they are trying to restrict the activity - daytrading by small dummies. You just made the point I was making. As for the lotteries, it's not the goverment that wants them, for your info, the people in the state have to VOTE on whether they will have one and some states don't. The ones that do have them do b/c the mathematically challenged poor people are misled by the odds-misrepresenting ads and vote for them.
Vladiator said: "daytrading by small dummies" Boy, talk about judgmental! What about Large Dummies? Ha. And also that was a really good point made that it's mainly not the $5,000 account people that are suing brokers but the $50-$200,000 account people. Why would a small account person pay a lawyer thousands of dollars to recover a few thousand? Plus that's not what this is about anyway.
I didn't see any reputable info on who exactly was behind the suit. Secondly, IF they would sue, do you think they would??? If they didn't, it's not b/c they didn't want to. For large dummies it's not that big a deal from the social policy point of view. Getting back to the casino example someone made before, if indeed only those who could afford wasting thousands in Vegas were allowed to, the world would have been a much better place.
The government doesn't want lotteries? SURE they do! Some states may require a referendum to approve the lotteries that the government wants to create. But the government definitely wants them. It's the government that puts out those odds-misrepresenting ads to get the mathematically challenged poor people to vote for them. When such a referendum is on the ballot, I assure you the government will spend a lot of taxpayer money putting out those commercials and print advertising to try to convince all voters what a beneficial thing the lottery would be for the state. You just said it was the people not the government that wants the lotteries, and then you went right on to say that the people only want the lotteries because they've been misled by advertising. It's the government that puts out that advertising!
Dude, you obviously have no idea of how it takes place. Trust me, there are AS MANY (if not more) ads convincing people not to vote as their are those that do. In many ways it's along party lines. The goverment at a state level is composed of representatives and lots of those don't want the lottery either. Your conspiracy theory is unfounded.
You are WRONG..it was the "small guys" suing....they do not have to pay a lawyer...Right now you can hire a top flight attorney on a contingency basis ...he gets 35-40% of anything he wins...If a client lost 5k he can get an attorney and the attorney will sue for about 20k...If the firm settles for 10k, he gets 5k and the client gets 5k and the majority of these cases never got to court..the attorney loves them because he spends MAYBE 10 hours on the case and makes 5k....not too shabby
Yes, if the government is so concerned about protecting small dummies from throwing their money away on gambling, why don't they create a Pattern Gambling restriction to prevent people with less than $25,000 from going to Las Vegas? How many more people of all incomes go to Las Vegas and lose their money, than try to trade stocks and options? You want to talk about "dummies", Las Vegas is where your real dummies go. Someone with less than $25,000 but enough smarts to know that casino gambling is a ridiculous risk, will try to open an account to use their money more sensibly in trading stocks and options. But those people get punished for it. Meanwhile, no-one's telling foolish gamblers they shouldn't go to Las Vegas. The government isn't trying to restrict TV advertising and offers of free airfaire and hotel weekends to lure people to Las Vegas. So the actual dummies who are would-be traders get pushed out of the stock market (for their own financial protection of course), and are encouraged to go blow their bankroll in an "all-expense paid" weekend in Las Vegas. While the rest of us who are serious about trading and using our heads, get clamped with restrictions that were supposedly designed to save the dummies from financial ruin.
You missed my point. I was saying they SHOULD. The reason it's not done is b/c of powerful lobbying interests. If you are as serious about trading as you are saying you are, and are confident of you abilities, getting more than 25k should not be a problem. You can raise that much money easily. But if you aren't confident enough to convince others to give you money, then you really shouldn't be doing it. Besides, what can you make with less than that? It's not even gonna pay for the time spent. ...just a thought, why don't some people who are whining here about PDT get together and form and LLC, put together their funds etc. That will let you get over PDT and then you can arrange the way trading/compensation is done, that's just legal details...
No, it is a problem. It is acceptable if I lose a $2K account because of my trades. But it is not acceptable if my $25K is not secure with a broker. If I lose it because of others problems, I'd kill.