Whether the count still applies to you

FINRA replaced its day trading margin rules on June 4, 2026. The day trade count and the 25,000 dollar minimum went with them, and intraday margin requirements took their place. Firms may phase the change in until October 20, 2027, though, and a firm that hasn't switched can keep applying the old rules until it does. So this count matters only if your broker still uses it. Ask which rules cover your account today, and see whether the pattern day trader rule is still in effect for how the transition works.

Under the old version of FINRA Rule 4210, four or more day trades within five business days in a margin account made the customer a pattern day trader, as long as those day trades were more than six percent of all trades in the account across those days. A flagged account then needed at least 25,000 dollars of equity to keep day trading, and brokers could apply stricter definitions of their own.

The counter moves a five-business-day window across the dates you enter, skipping weekends and any holidays you list, and reports the most day trades inside any one window. It also shows the latest window, the one that ends on your most recent day trade, and the business day after which its oldest trade stops counting.

What counts as a day trade

Buying and selling the same security in the same margin account on the same day is a day trade, and so is selling short and covering the same day. How several buys and sells in one session are counted can depend on the order they happen in, and brokers that still count apply their own method, so treat your account's own tally as the final word. For how the old rule worked, see pattern day trader. Cash accounts were never under it; see day trading in a cash account.