I sent an email and hr ago. I don’t understand why you block people from selling. I think some people would rather be flagged than to lose money.
I accidently shorted a stock and it made my third trade. Please reset this so I can get out of this trade.
Great customer support here…
I was able to find the referenced account and see how an order to short USWS (even if inadvertent) created a day trade when sold the same day. That, combined with day trades of two other stocks, added to 3 day trades today. If an account executes more than 3 day trades in a 5 day window the account would get flagged as Patern Day Trader (PDT). As such, the account would not be permitted to trade at all if the equity drops below $25,000. The restriction keeping one from executing a forth trade is to prevent the account from being further restricted to no trades.
These regulations are imposed by the SEC and FINRA. All brokers, including Alpaca, are required to enforce them and Alpaca is audited to ensure compliance.
Alpaca encourages anyone with less than $25,000 equity to refrain from any day trading for reasons exactly as was this case. The 3 day trade allowances are meant to be used in ‘emergencies’ and generally not to be part of one’s regular trading strategy.
You will be able to exit positions tomorrow, but also note you will not be able to place any day trades for 5 days since there have already been 3 today.
While this may seem an inconvenience, it is part of the regulatory framework which all traders must work within.
Yeah well I don’t really care to be labeled a PDT. What I care about is losing money when I was trying to sell up 1.5k and not being able to until I am down 8k.
Yet im still able to buy… So please explain why I can still buy but not sell? Is it because you still make money off PFOF when I buy?
Not to mention the settings I had here. So why does it allow me to buy on entry and not allow me to sell?
Also…how does preventing me from exiting a position help me?
One can buy, or sell and then buy, a position without creating a day trade. There is no restriction on those orders. It is only if an order would create a day trade that it is restricted. As mentioned, these are not Alpaca restrictions but SEC regulations.
Regarding the buying power check… There are several checks which are made around day trading. One, is the check inhibiting accounts under $25,000 to not place more than 3 day trades. This is what triggered in this instance. A second, is the “Day Trade Buying Power” check which is something separate. That is what can be modified in the ‘Account Configuration’ tab. That only applies to accounts which have been flagged PDT and have day trading buying power. While the SEC regulates the quantity of day trades one can make if an account is under $25,000, it also regulates how much can be traded even when an account is over $25,000. That is the concept of ‘day trading buying power’. If one ever goes over their day trading buying power, the account is restricted until cash is deposited to make up the difference. More funds must be deposited into the account to be able to trade. For this reason, the day trade buying power is checked.
You are not understanding or you are just being fasciculus.
Preventing someone from buying is okay because no one loses anything.
When you prevent someone from selling then that creates a problem. This isn’t my first broker and I know how PDT works. Usually brokers will give you a one time chance to reset your PDT count. This is allowed under PDT rules. The fact that Alpaca doesn’t and doesn’t respond to emails until after market close says a lot.
Again, can you tell me how being labeled a PDT is worse than losing 8k?
@BullHazard The rules around day trading are set by the SEC and not specifically Alpaca. Alpaca does allow a ‘one time exception’ and will reset a Pattern Day Trade (PDT) designation if requested. However, that is different from an account being prohibited from making 3 day trades in a rolling 5 day period if the account equity is under $25,000. Basically, if your account is under $25,000 you cannot execute more than that many day trades. The intention is actually to prohibit accounts under $25,000 from day trading at all. However, to provide a certain ‘cushion’ to exit positions in an emergency, one gets 3 ‘emergency’ day trades. They should therefore be used prudently. This cannot be extended to 4. The issue is not the account being designated PDT, but rather that accounts under $25,000 are limited to making only 3 day trades in 5 days per SEC regulations.
I have a cash account, but I was flagged today. I thought this did not apply to cash accounts. I am unable to close my position. Please allow me to do so. Also, how is it that it applies to my cash account? I do not short, I do not margin.
Apparently, what’s not being said here, is that Alpaca applies their own rule on PDT regs. as long as it meets or exceeds SEC and FINRA. Also, T3, or whatever it’s called these days comes into play. Meaning even if your account is set to cash only no margin you still
subject to T3 [ clearing requirement] .
Also as I understand it PDT is supposed to be stock specific and not on the whole account.
@alfredaita A couple of clarifications. Alpacas definition of a Pattern Day Trader doesn’t is generaly the same as the SEC definition. See here for the SECs explanation .
An account being flagged as Pattern Day Trader (PDT) simply means 1) it is a margin account and 2) the account executed four or more day trades within five business days.
Flagging an account as PDT is, in itself, neither good or bad. It’s simply a designation. It simply means there is a reasonable basis to believe the account will engage in pattern day trading. There are then some benefits and disadvantages with that designation. The biggest benefit is PDT accounts with equity over $25,000 have increased Day Trading Buying Power of up to 4x equity. The biggest disadvantage is, if an account is designated PDT, and the account equity drops below $25,000 then the account is restricted from trading.
Alpaca has in place Pattern Day Trade protections. These only apply to accounts with under $25,000 in equity. The intent is to prevent an account with less than $25,000 from being designated PDT. This would be bad. An account designated PDT with under $25,000 would be restricted from trading. The Alpaca PDT protections try to prevent that.
The statement “if your account is set to cash only no margin …” isn’t applicable (or correct) for Alpaca accounts. ALL Alpaca accounts are ‘margin’ accounts. Alpaca doesn’t offer ‘cash’ accounts. That was actually the issue in the very original post. The user didn’t have a cash account.
Also “PDT is supposed to be stock specific and not on the whole account”. That is incorrect. If a PDT designated account drops below $25,000 in equity, the entire account is restricted from trading (any stock). This is stated in the SEC doc above
If a customer’s account falls below the $25,000 requirement, the customer will not be permitted to
day trade until the customer deposits cash or securities into the account to restore the account to
the $25,000 minimum equity level.
Hope that clarifies things a bit.
