Language
NA
Alpaca SDK Version
NA
Other Environment Details
Account related question
Summary
Both my Paper and Production accounts are showing a 2x DTBP. I have a 4x Margin set and the necessary for funds for PDT. How do I flag my account as a PDT account?
Paper or Live Tradng?
Both
Example Code
NA
@nye For an account to be ‘flagged’ or set as being a Pattern Day Trader (PDT) then it must exhibit a pattern of day trading. What this means is the account must execute more than 3 day trades within 5 trading days.
So, simply place 4 or more day trades. These could be fractional shares. Something like this will get an account flagged PDT if done in a single day.
buy 1 share AAPL
sell 1 share AAPL
buy 1 share AAPL
sell 1 share AAPL
buy 1 share AAPL
sell 1 share AAPL
buy 1 share AAPL
sell 1 share AAPL
Note that one must have more than $25,000 in equity in the account. Also note the PDT designation is permanent (though there can be a 1 time exception to get it removed). So only get an account designated PDT if one can be sure to maintain more than $25,000 in equity.
Once PDT is set the account will see 4x daytrading margin the following day.
@Dan_Whitnable_Alpaca Thank you!!
@Dan_Whitnable_Alpaca I’m trying to activate the PDT flag in my paper trading account by buying 1 share of AAPL and selling 1 share AAPL many times in a single day.
Under my account details, my daytrade_count is at 10 but the pattern_day_trader flag is still false. Am I missing something or does it just take some time for the pattern_day_trader flag to update?
I managed to figure it out. The PDT flag changed to True just before midnight and the multiplier for 4x Margin changed at around 5am the following day.