Effective June 4, 2026, FINRA’s new regulation (Rule 4210) replaces the previous Pattern Day Trader (PDT) model with an approach based on the actual risk of your account throughout the day. Under this new model, your account no longer relies on a minimum balance of $25,000 or a trade count to access intraday leverage. Instead, the required margin level is evaluated across the entire trading day.
As a consequence of this change, a new type of notification is introduced: the Intraday Margin Call.
An Intraday Margin Call is a notification issued when, at the close of a market trading day, the required margin level at any point during the day exceeded the available capital in your account. In other words, your account assumed a level of risk during the day greater than what your equity could support.
Unlike the previous framework, this calculation does not focus solely on how you close the day, but rather on the peak exposure moment you experienced during the trading session.
Our custodian performs a calculation at the close of each market day. If it detects that the required margin at any point during the day exceeded your closing equity, the Intraday Margin Call is generated automatically.
The calculation does not take into account how many trades you executed or whether you held or closed positions. What matters is the required margin level at the peak exposure moment of the day compared to your account's final equity.
This means that an Intraday Margin Call can be generated even if you ended the day in cash, as long as you assumed a risk during the trading session that your final equity cannot support.
Once the Intraday Margin Call is issued, you have 5 business days to cover it, counting from the close of the day it was generated.
During this period, your account operates normally. You can continue executing trades and using your regular buying power. Restrictions only apply if the deadline expires without the margin call being covered.
If the Intraday Margin Call has not been covered by the end of the 5th business day, your account will be restricted to "liquidating only" mode for 90 days. In this status, you will only be able to close existing positions, not open new ones.
There are three ways to cover an Intraday Margin Call:
If your account has an active Intraday Margin Call and you decide to withdraw funds, the withdrawn amount will automatically be added to the margin call.
For example, if your Intraday Margin Call is $3,000 and you make a withdrawal of $10,000, the margin call will increase to $13,000. This rule exists to prevent the deposit-withdrawal loop as a strategy to evade the requirement.
We recommend consulting with us prior to making any withdrawal if your account has an active margin call.
A client starts the day with $10,000 in cash in their margin account.
The client has 5 business days to cover it via deposit, position liquidation (within the annual limit), or wait for the deadline to expire.
Under the previous Pattern Day Trader model, restrictions were primarily triggered by executing 4 or more day trades within 5 business days with an account balance below $25,000. Under the new rule, that designation is eliminated, along with the requirement to maintain $25,000 in the account to trade actively.
In its place, the new model focuses on the actual risk of the account throughout the entire trading day. This translates into greater trading flexibility, but also greater responsibility in managing margin throughout the day.
