45: Pattern Day Trading Rules - What Are They & What Can Go Wrong?

Show Notes: http://www.optionalpha.com/show45

Did you get flagged as a Pattern Day Trader? Concerned about what can happen if you make too many day trades in a short period of time?

In this session of The Option Alpha Podcast, I'll clearly lay out the not-so-scary Pattern Day Trading Rules (PDT) that you can often run into if you're an active trader in either stocks or options.

Now, personally speaking, we rarely (if ever) run into an issue with the PDT rules because we aren't day traders. We are position traders meaning that we'll enter options trades for a couple weeks to a couple months. We may have an opportunity to close a trade early for a profit but we never enter positions with the intent of closing them the same day.

That said, there are tons of questions on what is classified as a "day trade" in the eyes of the regulators. How much money you need in your account to be exempt from the PDT rules and what happens if you get margin called.

Lucky for you I'll walk through everything step by step so you have the confidence to trade around these irritating rules.