Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

I know there's some 4 or 5/week limit on "day trades", with <25k in the account, does anyone know the definition of that, does that just mean within the same day, or is it within 24 hours? IE Buy at 3PM sell at 10 the next morning is not considered a "day trade"?

 

SIX staff members of the Holyoke soldiers home in Ma. test positive AGAIN....ruh ro...
https://www.masslive.com/police-fir...ovid-19-all-staff-residents-to-be-tested.html

 

IMO, the problem with universal health care in this country is the way in which has been attempted to be introduced. Either keep it private and let the chips fall or make it a govt agency. If the latter, that means hospitals, drugs, employees: all of it. There can't be an in between if it's ever going to truly work.

 

You can sell A and buy B as quickly as you want...But you must HOLD B until the selling of A clears...2 days.
That's if the buy of B must have been made with funds from A.
If you had 5K in your account and sold A for $1000 and now have $6K you would have to buy $5001 of B before you are into that day trade settlement issue.

 

Hope we don't attract the ban hammers.

I'm all for socialism on some things. Healthcare is one of them.

 

You can have up to 4 in 5 trading days. Once you get the 5th you qualify as a FINRA PDT. You'll most likely get a warning the first time. The second your account will be frozen for 90 days or until 25K of funding gets deposited

 

I may have phrased that wrong.

Buy A, Sell A, Buy A, Sell A, etc. Assuming I'm not Buying A2 before A1 clears. Same security.

 

True socialism is when the government owns the means of production. Healthcare would be a social program (like roads, schools, etc.) Very different, one evil, the other a necessary in a civilized society.

 

https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answerspatterndaytraderhtm.html

So now I'm a little confused I guess. Worth noting: I have ZERO interest (heh) in playing with margin. This would be completely funded, say I have 3k in my account, at 9AM I buy 2.5k worth of NRGU. It spikes for the day, I sell it at 4:15PM and get 4k (I don't know, random numbers). Now I have $500 "settled" funds, and 4k unsettled funds. I have zero intention of playing with that 4k until it becomes settled, does that "day trade" count as one of the 4 for the 5 days or is it not because it's not on margin?

 

Yes. It counts as a day trade. If you buy then sell during the same day it's a day trade. The margin and 25k is what you need to qualify for FINRA PDT status. Once you qualify you can have 150 day trades and not get any flak. Unless your account goes below the 25K requirement.

 

I think you're confusing day trading with free riding.
My understanding is that the situation you mentioned is a day trade (simply bought and sold on the same day)
Free riding is buying and selling with unsettled funds and a separate issue.
I'm far from an expert though so take that for what it's worth.

 

Okay. I think I understand this now

So, that leads to the next question, if I buy at 3PM and sell at 10AM the next day for example, that's not a day trade because it's in two different sessions?

I'm confusing everything for everything at this point. The more I think I know, the more I start to ask and the more I realize I haven't a clue.

But it's starting to make sense, thank you! Zero interest in dealing with unsettled funds and margin, I am stupid, not dumb.

 

Correct. Buying the close and selling the open is not a day trade.

Margin is nothing to be scared of. It actually allows you to not have to worry about settled funds.

Let's say you sell 4k of stock on Monday at 12PM. With a non-margin account you can't trade that cash until it settles on Wednesday. With a margin account you can trade that 4k right away. The broker loans you those funds until the funds settle. It's awesome.

 

I am not sure why, but I can sell something and immediately buy something else with the unsettled funds with no problems.

I'll get a free riding violation if I SELL what I bought with the unsettled funds.

I can immediately spend the unsettled cash though.

Not sure why...

 

Just pay closer attention with a margin account.
I've accidentally bought on margin because the app didn't limit me to actual funds available. There are also small interest fees associated.

 

That's typical. It's the selling of what you bought with unsettled funds (before they're settled) that creates the "free ride" violation.

 

You are correct. You can buy with unsettled funds in a regular account. You can't sell until the funds settle. You would get either a good faith violation or a free ride violation. Margin accounts eliminate that.

 

I guess that's fair. Margin is just something I know very little about, but I know enough to know how it can cause some pretty serious danger. At least, it's not something I want to "toy" around with right now, until I am more familiar with it and the rules with it, and risks I'd be taking on (or not taking on) with certain trades.

 

Congrats! And I am sooo sorry...

 

I wholeheartedly agree about the VA. The one difference between that and universal healthcare would be that instead of having doctors that get B's and C's in med school, you can also throw in the doctors that get A's. At least that's how I look at it and that's been my experience with VA vs. private healthcare.

Doing it on a massive scale is going to be painful. There are some countries that have been successful at it, some better than others, all with issues. I honestly don't know how I feel about it and what that will do to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in the market. Would it also have broader effects pushing out to industrials (the materials sector)?

Is there a thesis out there somewhere analyzing the affects of going to universal healthcare and how it could affect the market? Having a full understanding of cause and effects might help with the investing/trading side of things.