I got headfaked out this morning and made only $130. Then I took a shot this afternoon after the market bottomed and went in with a margined position and went from $360 up to $600 down at the end of the day all because I could not daytrade. This stock was an easy $1500 day if I could daytrade. I will wait to see what tomorrow brings - I have to believe the markets will be up at least part of the day - that is all I need.
you are blaming the PDT rule for all your problems. In fact, the PDT rule was created to keep people like you from blowing out their accounts in a short amount of time. If you had been left to the 4:1 margin you would be completely broke by now, so it worked. I am not saying this to be a jerk, I am saying it so that you will change your strategy instead of blaming the SEC. You have described your strategy, and it amounts to going long on stocks that are performing THE WORST on any given day, and in the context of a bear market. BAD IDEA. that is the main cause of the decline in your account equity. It is not the SEC's fault. Go back and review your trades and see what would have happened to you if you had done the exact opposite, i.e. going short instead of long. Also, look up the concept of relative strength. Once again, don't get mad at me, just take out your revenge by making money in the future.
If I were you, I will get the heck out of stock trading. And I will getting into Future trading. If you don't have $25k......
I think if you had read in between the lines of my comments you would have understood that I would have been short most of the day in this stock. And no I would not have gone broke with the 4:1 margin as I did quite nicely losing money going through the learning curve and without using margin before the PDT rule. Yes I have studied RSI and understand it and it does not fit my strategy. Tell me partner, do you think you would do as well if you could not daytrade?
I would second that. These last couple months have been phenomenal, especially with the leverage of futures. Today, with decent discipline, you could've make 3:1 on every other trade.
As a follow up to my response, you probably thought I had drawdown because of using my strategy as outlined. That is not the case. The strategy I am now using has become profitable for me - yes even in down markets. Yes, I have made money on COF net of my current position. My major drawdown happened early on when I was a newbie to daytrading in search of a strategy. You need to be aware and perhaps educate yourself that there are in deed strategies other than yours that prove successful for others. As far as my comments on the PDT rule, they are absolutely legitimate. Having 4:1 or 2:1 margin has nothing to do whatsoever with the problem the rule imposes on the small trader. If you cannot understand that, then you are ignorant. If you do understand that, then you are a jerk.