What is pattern day trading?

Stock trading in the United States is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). To protect retail investors from the risks of day trading, FINRA rules previously limited the number of day trades certain investors could make within a specific period of time. Known as pattern day trading (PDT), these rules stipulated that an investor could not day trade (buy and sell the same security in the same day) more than 3 times within 5 consecutive market days without holding a minimum account balance of $25,000.

As of June 4, 2026, this rule is no longer in effect. FINRA has replaced pattern day trading requirements with updated margin standards designed to give investors greater flexibility to participate in the markets.

At etoro, this means you can now buy and sell the same security on the same day as often as you like without being subject to any PDT-related account restrictions.

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| *Note: Crypto trading is not available in NV, HI, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.* |