Day trade call

Hi,

I'd like to learn more about day trade call. I have day traded a number of times (buy and then one sell once in a day), but I believe by doing that only once per day, I have not exploit its full potential.

If I have $5000 day trading power, which ones of the examples below will trigger a day trade call and which ones will not? These are the scenarios I am not sure will trigger a call, therefore I ask. Please bear with me, they are a bit cumbersome. Assume at the start of the day I have no stocks. Each example describes the trading activities in exact sequence within a day. For the ones that trigger a day trade call, please provide some explanation if you could. The account has balance over $25000.


(I) If only one stock is involved:

(1)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A

(2)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A

(3)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $2500 of A
Sell $5000 of A
Buy $2500 of A
Sell $2500 of A

(4)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A
Buy $2500 of A
Sell $2500 of A

(5)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A
Buy $2500 of A
Sell $5000 of A

(6)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A

(7)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of A
Sell $2500 of A

(8) Is there such things as keeping the 1st buy for overnight, the rest as day trades?
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A


(II) If 2 stocks are involved:

(21)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of B
Sell $5000 of A

(22)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of B
Sell $5000 of B

(23)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of B
Sell $2500 of A
Sell $2500 of B

(24)
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of B
Sell $5000 of B

(25)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $2500 of B
Sell $5000 of A
Sell $2500 of B

(26)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $2500 of B
Sell $2500 of B
Sell $5000 of A



Bottom line, what is the formulae for deciding how much day trading power I have left after each trade?

Thanks a million!!

sleepwell!

Is 5K your buying power? Or is 5K your margin maintenance amount, meaning you could trade up to 4X the 5K?

Yes 5K is my buying power. I think I made an error, by saying "trading power" initially, I really meant buying power. I think they might have different meaning in the stocks world.

Allow me to elaborate a little. Since I only have $5k buying power, if I only do this in a day I will be fine:

Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A

However, take the first example:
(1)
Buy $5000 of A
Buy $5000 of A
Sell $5000 of A

Just before I try to execute the second "Buy $5000 of A", I usually get a warning message like below:

"This order exceeds the current day trading buying power.
If the resulting position is closed today, a day trade call will be issued.
Day trading with insufficient day trade buying power may lead to a trading restriction on this account."

So the questions is: after I buy the second $5000 of A, can I still go ahead and sell $5000 of A later in the day, without upsetting the system?


In the past, in a situation like this, fearing that my account will be limited, I usually just let both $5000 buys sit overnight, and deal with them the next day. This sometimes leads to gains and losses, because a lot can still happen after the second $5000 buy.

What if I insist on selling $5000 after the second buy. Am I still within the trading limit by doing this?