Just turn your cash account into a margin account and everything will be fine.

We’re obviously talking about a traditional brokerage house.

Honestly, an answer longer then I have the energy this evening to provide is
warranted. But the short answer is that firms are more concerned about
liability then they are commissions. Hard to believe, perhaps. But your
activity has given then reason to contact you to (among other things) cover
themselves against potential liability.

Firms produce what are referred to as 'happy letter' which do much the same
thing. 'Dear Mr. Smith: While we appreciate the commission generated on your
account as well as your trust, we have noticed that your [fill in the blank -
trading patterns, purchase of 'penny stocks', lack of diversification...] do not
reflect the personal profile provided on New Account Application in terms of
your risk tolerance and objectives....' And so on.

The fact that you have made a couple of bucks so far is irrelevant – firms are
sued all the time by investors who actually made money net-net. The fact that
you're as active as you appear to be, in an aggressive investment strategy, with
only 5 mth investment experience would be even more reason for a firm to cover
themselves.

So a year from now, after alllllllll that early rookie success, you end-up
getting your ass handed to you. You gambled away your retirement, even your
wife left you. So you sue the firm b/c they let this poor, totally
unsophisticated and inexperienced investor over-trade his account, on margin,
never telling you about the evils of day trading and options trading… In
fact, your lawyer writes that with low commissions they were encouraging you to
actively trade!!

In the event that happens, the firm whips out the transcript of their phone call
for the arbitration panel and says, “Members of the panel, we called him in
October, 2007 to let him know that we were concerned about his activities, that
he was taking what we felt was excessive risk. But he elected not to listen.
In fact, here’s a copy of a post he made on the Stockpickr website saying we
didn’t have any business telling him how to invest, that he had it all figured
out and was making, ‘A healthy 30%’ return.” :)

Good luck with your trading.

I would just get a tradestation account. Their platform seems to fit what you
are doing. I do similar stuff and they work great for me.

Ryan

I don't have a margin account, but I have substantially more than $25K in the
account.

Do any brokerages have a system in place to alert you if you're engaging in a
"free ride" transaction? I've traded a few times before money has settled. But
that was at the same time I had other positions that were open for weeks, etc.
Do other equities count as "settled money" to prevent a free ride transaction?

On the other hand, rules that say you can't trade frequently outside of allowing
time for moeny to settle are restrictive.

Federal regulations set "pattern day trading" rules. A day trade is defined as
opening and closing a position in the same, or considerably similar, security in
the same trading day (this includes pre-market and after-hours). You can do
this as much as you want as long as you MAINTAIN AT LEAST 25,000 in equity in
your account. If not at least 25K maintained, you are limited to 3 day trades
or less within a rolling 5 trading day period. You may run into free ride
violations, based on settlement date, if you don't have a margin account. I
can't see why a broker would complain about an active client though.

T have my accounts with Fidelity. No limit in trades that I'm aware of. $8
trades for active traders. If you have 20 option trades a month they have a
special options trading platform. I think their regular active trader platform
is good.