Stuck in trades - alpaca wont allow sale!

Alpaca Trading
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I placed 3 trades through the API this morning and all was fine until I tired to sell. Im getting an error from the API “trade denied due to pattern day trading protection" and the same error when I try to liquidate through the portal. WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK? Alapca is stopping my sale so Im stuck in these stocks. What kind of dumb shit is going on here?

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@Alphalab It’s an SEC rule. If you have less than $25,000 in equity as of the previous end of day, one cannot place more than 3 day trades in a 5 day rolling window. A day trade is buying and selling the same symbol in a day. See here for info.

You will be able to close those positions tomorrow (ie it won’t be a day trade then). If you cannot wait and want to close them today, send an email to support@alpaca.markets. Ensure you include your 9 digit account number. Explain the situation and they may be able to help.

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Hi Dan,

I understand the PDT rule. However, If Im not going to be able to sell my positions, you shouldn’t allow me to buy the position in the first place. Now Im stuck in the loser positions that I have no control over. Completely unacceptable.

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Furthermore, my current account balance is over $25K and Im still not allowed to liquidate my positions.

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@Alphalab I understand your frustration. Send an email to Support and they should be able to help.

You mentioned “However, If Im not going to be able to sell my positions, you shouldn’t allow me to buy the position in the first place”. The issue isn’t that you cannot sell your positions, rather you cannot sell them the same day. The order entry system doesn’t know ahead of time when you are going to sell. This makes not allowing to buy in the first place problematic.

You also stated the “current account balance is over $25K”. The equity check is made as of the previous end of day and does not consider the current equity (again per SEC rules).

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Apparently I didn’t understand the PDT rule as well as I thought I did. My own fault and responsibility.

Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate your help.

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@Alphalab Always here to help. Do send an email to support. They should be able to get you set.

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