Day Trading and Buying Power
Chapters in this video
- 0:00 Why the pattern day trader regime is dead
- 1:28 Intraday margin level: Cara's breathing room
- 2:23 IML-reducing transactions: withdrawals count too
- 3:18 Largest negative IML of the day, not closing balance
- 5:16 The two-part trigger for the 90-day restriction
- 6:32 What the restriction blocks and allows
- 7:15 Buying power has no separate day trading multiple
- 7:45 Rapid-fire exam recap
What this video covers
- Why the pattern day trader regime is dead, and how the intraday margin standard replaced counting trades entirely
- What intraday margin level (IML) actually measures: withdrawable cash above maintenance margin, or a negative number when short
- Why an IML-reducing transaction includes any withdrawal of cash or securities, not just purchases or sales
- How the intraday margin deficit is determined from the largest negative IML reached during the day, regardless of the closing balance
- The two conditions required for the 90-day restriction: a practice of failing to satisfy deficits promptly, plus one deficit unsatisfied past the fifth business day
- What the 90-day restriction actually blocks: creating or increasing short positions and debit balances, with closing short positions still permitted
- Why buying power for day trading uses the standard 50% initial margin rule with no separate multiple
Read the full lesson, free
This video's complete written lesson is free to read in the CertFuel app, no signup wall. The complete Series 99 course also includes adaptive practice questions and spaced-repetition flashcards, free through the end of 2026.