How does day trading work regarding waiting for funds to clear?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: dansch Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/131019 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. So, I understand the PDT rule, needing $25k in an account to day trade, however... If a person is day trading, don't they need to wait 3 days to use that money again? Do they just have very large bank rolls and only trade with a portion?

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Bob Baerker Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/131020 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. You are only allowed to trade settled cash in a cash account. Equity trades take two days to settle (T+2). Options take one day (T+1). There is no limit to how many day trades you can make in a cash account as long as you are using settled funds. If you are labeled a Pattern Day Trader (one who executes 4 or more day trades in options and equities in a rolling five business day period in a margin account) then you must maintain $25k of marginable securities and/or cash in your account. A margin account allows you to use unsettled funds, avoiding all settlement date related violations that could happen in a cash account.