Yes, Pattern Day Trader (PDT) restrictions apply to stock and options trading. 

A Pattern Day Trader is a FINRA designation for a margin account that executes four or more day trades in five business days, provided the number of day trades are more than 6% of an accounts total trading activity for that same five-day period.

These accounts need to maintain a daily equity balance of $25,000 or more and receive 4:1 Day Trading Buying Power from the clearing house. 

When the Starting Day Equity Balance is below $25,000, the Day Trading Buying Power is reduces to zero (0). 

Margin accounts receive 2:1 margin and must adhere to the PDT restrictions when the Starting Day Equity Balance is below $25,000.

Cash Accounts are not intended to be day trading accounts. 

A cash account must have settled funds before a purchase can be made and before a security can be sold.

If a cash account trades daily and liquidates long term positions, it is possible for the account to receive a "Good Faith Violation".

Cash accounts are not allowed to short stock.

 Get instant help with our 24/7 x 365 live chat support.


 Call us at +1-877-4-TRADE-0 (Monday - Friday, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET). We always pick up.


TradeZero America does not support trading below $0.05. To liquidate any position(s) trading below $0.05, the order must be placed by a TradeZero representative. An additional $30.00 assisted trading fee will apply on top of the cost to trade stocks under $1.00 (see: Pricing and Fees).

Additionally, shorting stocks below $0.50 is not supported. However, a short position may be carried below $0.50 (see: What is the margin requirement for stocks under $3).

Yes, TradeZero has a risk tool in the client portal which can assist in limiting a daily loss to the entire portfolio of your account. 

TradeZero does not utilize CMTA clearing for retail clients.

Yes, pre-market trading begins at 4 AM ET and ends at 9:30 AM ET. 

Post-market trading begins at 4 PM ET and ends at 8 PM ET.


All short positions, if held after 8PM Eastern Time (the cutoff period to close your position) on Thursday, will be charged overnight borrow fees for the weekend due to any covering trade not settling until Monday at the earliest.

It is important to understand, an overnight borrow fee is based on settlement (T+1) date but charged by our clearing firm on T+2 date.

If you hold a position short overnight on Thursday, your account will incur 3 nights of overnight borrow fees as the earliest a short position held overnight on Thursday can settle, will be Monday.

When holding any short position overnight, an overnight borrow fee will apply. This fee will be charged every day you hold a short position overnight and until the short position is covered. You can see an estimate of the fee by logging into your client portal and going to: Tools > Overnight Borrow Calculator.

The overnight borrow estimator will include all holidays or weekdays, where a fee will apply. It is important to check the overnight borrow calculator every day you plan on holding your short position overnight.

To place an equity order after-hours (4 PM-8 PM ET), you can utilize Day+ orders.

Be sure to review any hotkeys you may have set up and see if an adjustment is warranted.



: our system will utilize overnight margin requirements instead of day trade margin requirements after 4 PM ET.

*Please see: "What Time In Force (TIF) can I use on Tradezero's Trading Platform?" 

If you hold a position in a security that is scheduled for a corporate action which will result in a stock split (forward or reverse), merger, or name change, the position will be removed from the trading platform between 4 PM ET and 5 PM ET, the day before the corporate action is to occur.

After the corporate action, TradeZero will confirm with its clearing house the correct symbol and number of shares of the resulting security to be placed in your account. 

This process may take a few days depending on the complexity of the corporate action and the delivery of shares.

Once the corrected shares and or symbol are confirmed by the clearing house, the updated position will be returned to the trading platform.



It is your responsibility to be aware of pending corporate actions and how such events will affect their outstanding portfolio.

TradeZero America charges $35 for processing corporate actions and $100 for reorganization activity.

If you hold a short position after 8PM ET on Friday, the cutoff period to close your position, you will NOT be charged overnight borrow fees for the weekend due to the short trade settling on Monday. However, all short positions, if held after 8PM Eastern Time, the cutoff period to close your position, on Thursday, will be charged overnight borrow fees for the weekend due to any covering trade not settling until Monday at the earliest. It is important to understand, an overnight borrow fee is based on settlement (T+1) date. 
For Example:



On Tuesday, Sell Short 100 XYZ
On Thursday, Cover 100 XYZ
Reason: Cover trade settles on Friday



Will be charged for the weekend on Thursday


On Tuesday, Sell Short 100 XYZ
On Friday, Cover 100 XYZ
Reason: Tuesday trade settles on Wednesday and Friday trade settles on Monday




On Friday, Sell Short 100 XYZ
On Monday, Cover 100 XYZ
Reason: Friday trade settles on Monday




On Thursday, Sell Short 100 XYZ
On Monday, Cover 100 XYZ
Reason: Thursday trade settles on Friday


How are Overnight Borrow Fees charged on a Thursday?


All short positions, if held after 8PM Eastern Time (the cutoff period to close your position) on Thursday, will be charged overnight borrow fees for the weekend due to any covering trade not settling until Monday at the earliest. It is important to understand, an overnight borrow fee is based on settlement (T+1) date but charged by our clearing firm on T+2 date. If you hold a position short overnight on Thursday, your account will incur 3 nights of overnight borrow fees as the earliest a short position held overnight on Thursday can settle, will be Monday.

This states that firms are obligated to provide investors with executions at the best possible price.



TradeZero America, Inc. (the “Firm”) can force the sale or cover of equities and or option positions in a customer’s account(s) at any time without prior notice if a customer’s account poses a regulatory or financial risk to the customer, the Firm, or its clearing firm. 

The following are examples of scenarios in which the firm may force the sale or cover of positions in a customer’s account. If during the trading day, the equity in a customer’s account:


Falls between 15 – 20%, TradeZero America may, at its discretion, buy-in or liquidate the customer’s position in order to raise account equity up to 25% or more;

Falls to 15%* or below, TradeZero America may, at its discretion, buy-in or liquidate the customer’s entire account.

Is over concentrated in one or more securities during pre-market or afterhours trading and the account is using margin in excess of 2X.

Or after quantitative or qualitative analysis, the position(s) in the account post undo regulatory or financial exposure for the client, the Firm, or its clearing firm.

*These percentages can be raised without notice due to increase in market volatility or increase in individual stock and option volatility.

After a buy-in or liquidation, it is the customer’s responsibility to maintain or increase account equity to meet any margin or equity requirements imposed by law or regulation, the Firm, or its clearing firm.




If the Firm or its clearing firm cannot continue to borrow the securities in which a customer has a short position, the Firm or its clearing firm may close a customer’s short position. 

In these examples, TradeZero America will try to notify customers that their short position(s) may be covered and if the customer covers their position prior to a Reg Sho Rule 204 or Broker Recall buy-in, the customer may end up long the position. 

A Reg Sho Rule 204 cover normally happens on the opening of trading on T+3 but if the customers position is greater than the opening volume, the covering transaction may be spread out during the day. 

A Broker Recall can occur any time during the trading day.


If the customer receives a margin call and fails to fund his/her account or fails to cover the call by liquidation, TradeZero or its clearing firm may liquidate any position(s) in the account to satisfy the margin call.

Furthermore, the margin requirement for day trading is calculated differently than the margin requirement for holding position(s) overnight. 

As a result, if a customer is holding a position(s) in the afterhours trading session that will incur a large margin call or the portfolio is deemed too consolidated in one position by the Firm’s risk department, the Firm may reduce the position(s) to prevent an excessive margin call or undue risk. 

This may bring the equity % for the portfolio to 50% or even 100% depending on the marginability of the position(s) and or the volatility of the securities held in the account.

Effective May 28, 2024, the standard settlement cycle was shortened from T+2 (trade date plus two business days) to T+1 (trade date plus one business day). This change was part of an industry-wide initiative to enhance efficiency and reduce the risk in the securities settlement process.


Under the new “T+1” settlement cycle, all applicable securities transactions from US financial institutions now settle in one business day of their transaction date.

As a result of this adjustment, trades executed on or after May 28, 2024, now settle on the next business day. For example, if you sell shares of ABC stock on Monday, the transaction will settle on Tuesday.

Fed Call / Reg T (Initial purchase or short):


Payment period for Fed Call is now reduced by one day to T+3.

Payment period is now reduced by one day to T+1.


Purchases and Sales now settle on the next business day. Cash received from closing a position is available on the next business day.


Reg SHO 204 buy-in: Reg SHO 204 requirements and when a possible buy-in will occur changed from T+3 to T+2.


Equity and option exchanges have procedures for coordinated cross-market
trading halts if a severe market price decline reaches levels that may
exhaust market liquidity.These procedures, known as Market-Wide Circuit
Breakers, temporarily halt trading, or under extreme circumstances, close
the markets before normal close of the trading session.These circuit
breakers are determined by a single-day decrease in the S&P 500 Index.

Following a market-wide circuit breaker, exchanges will run reopening
auctions in their respective primary-listed securities.
For more information see: 

 Send your queries to support@tradezero.us and we’ll get back to you promptly.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Limit Up-Limit Down Rule (LULD) prohibits trading activity in exchange-listed securities at prices outside specified price bands (“upper band”; “lower band”), which are established at a percentage level above and below the average price of a security over the immediately preceding 5-minute period. 

When the level is breached, the stock will halt trading and there will be a five-minute trading pause. 

The protocols for handling a trading pause are established by the exchanges. 

TradeZero will accept orders and route them as during a trading halt. 

These orders will be traded on a best effort basis in the re-opening process once the halt is lifted. 

Clients should be aware that the security may resume trading at a significantly higher or lower price and this may cause an account using margin to trigger TradeZero’s automatic risk sell out protocol 

What are some reasons TradeZero may close out a position?

As of August 2, 2024, the new margin requirement for short positions that are low priced is as follows:

Stocks priced below $5.00 = $5.00 per share margin requirement

Margin requirement = 5,000 x $5 = $25,000

Please also be aware that margin requirements may change daily and overnight due to various factors including, but not limited to, volatility, low float, and percentage of insider holdings.

Equity securities with a market value of less the $3 per share may not be purchased on margin or deposited as margin collateral.

If the market value of a security drops below $3 per share, the security will not be assigned any value as collateral to secure your margin obligation.

Maximum Share Limit is set at 10,000 shares per order for all new accounts. 

If you would like to raise the pre-set limit, send an email to 

In the email, state your account number and the share limit you would like to have.

Requests for 25,000 shares or more requires compliance approval.

You will receive an email indicating your new Maximum Share Limit.

TradeZero America, Inc. ("TZA"), like all other registered Broker Dealers in the US, abides by the Pattern Day Trading ("PDT") rule as defined by FINRA Rule 4210 Margin Requirements.

The PDT rule generally states that a customer is limited to three (3) round trip trades in any consecutive five trading day period unless maintaining a daily equity balance of $25,000.

If a customer creates a fourth (4) roundtrip trade, the account is classified as a PDT account. Once classified as a PDT account, the account is restricted from day trading on margin unless the equity balance in the account is $25,000 or more.

In accordance with FINRA guidance and the policies set by TradeZero America's clearing firm, a PDT account can request a PDT reset once in the lifetime of the account. Any subsequent PDT classification will be permanent for the life of the account.



The PDT rule applies to margin accounts that trade stock and options.

 to read FINRA Rule 4210 on Pattern Day Trading (PDT Rule).

This is one day trade because account bought and sold 100 shares XYZ in the same day.

This is one day trade because account shorted and covered 100 shares XYZ in the same day.

This is one day trade. The trade that opened before today does not count. 

This is one day trade. The Buy of 50 and Sell of XYZ occurred today.

This is one day trade because there is only one change of direction in the account, going from long to flat on the same day.

This is two day trades because a change of direction happened when a Cover of 50 XYZ occurred. The counter started on the second trade on the next short of 100 XYZ.


A market order is eligible for execution at the best available market price.


A limit order is eligible for execution at the specified limit price or better. Execution is not guaranteed.


A stop market order would be eligible for execution at the best available market price once the specified stop price has been reached or surpassed on the trading tape.


A stop limit order would be eligible for execution at the specified limit price or better once the specified stop price has been reached or surpassed on the trading tape.


A market on close order is eligible for execution at the regular market hours closing price. Any balance not executed as part of the closing trade is canceled.


A limit on close order is eligible for execution at the regular market hours closing price if it is at the specified limit price or better. Any balance not executed as part of the closing trade is canceled.


A range order is a bracket order, one cancels the other upon execution. Typically send as a limit order to take profit and a stop market order to stop loss.
The low price is a limit price for buy side orders and a stop price for sell side orders.
The high price is a stop price for buy side orders and a limit price for sell side orders.

A trailing stop order’s stop price is not a specific price. It is either a defined percentage or dollar amount, above or below the current market price of the security (“trailing stop price”). As the price of the security moves in a favorable direction the trailing stop price adjusts or “trails” the market price of the security by the specified amount. However, if the security’s price moves in an unfavorable direction the trailing stop price remains fixed, and the order will be triggered if the security’s price reaches the trailing stop price.


What Time in Forces (TIF) are available for equity trading?

Time in Force (TIF)

 – Orders are eligible for execution from 4AM to 4PM ET.



 – Orders are eligible for execution from 4AM to 8PM ET.



 – Orders are eligible for execution from 9:30AM to 4PM ET. Automatically replaced daily until canceled or filled. 

 – Orders are eligible for execution from 4AM to 8PM ET. Automatically replaced daily until canceled or filled. 

Your buying power will update for a new trading day at 4 AM ET.


Regulation SHO Rule 204 is the Close-out Requirement that requires brokers and dealers that are participants of a registered clearing agency to take action to close out “failure to deliver” positions.

Under Rule 204(a) of Regulation SHO, all “failure to deliver” purchases must be closed out by borrowing or purchasing securities no later than the start of regular trading hours on the following settlement date.

If you day trade a security and consistently hold a short position, then you are consistently net short the security and are at risk of a “failure to deliver” if TradeZero America or its clearing firm cannot borrow the securities.

TradeZero tries to make this process as transparent as possible. We request from our clearing house before close of business any client positions that are at risk of “failure to deliver”. We then send to those clients a notice via email so they can make a better decision whether to stay in the position or get out of the position.

Reg Sho Rule 204(b) states that if a clearing house does not close out its “failure to deliver” in an equity in accordance with Reg Sho Rule 204(a) then the clearing house and any broker dealer for which it receives trades for clearance and settlement may not accept short sale orders from its customers in that equity without first borrowing the security or entering into a bona fide arrangement to borrow the stock. To avoid this, TradeZero takes the extra step to inform its clients of any potential “failure to deliver.”

As a rule of thumb, stocks that have a small float or have a large short interest are more at risk of a “failure to deliver” resulting in receiving a Reg Sho Rule 204 notice than stocks that have a large float and small short interest. It is important to be an educated trader and understand the rules that may affect your decision making.

https://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mrfaqregsho1204.htm

https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm


TradeZero America, Inc. (the “Firm”) can force the sale or cover of equities and or option positions in a customer’s account(s) at any time without prior notice if a customer’s account poses a regulatory or financial risk to the customer, the Firm, or its clearing firm.

The following are examples of scenarios in which the firm may force the sale or cover of positions in a customer’s account. If during the trading day, the equity in a customer’s account:

Falls between 15 – 20%, TradeZero America may, at its discretion, buy-in or liquidate the customer’s position in order to raise account equity up to 25% or more.

Or after quantitative or qualitative analysis, the position(s) in the account pose undo regulatory or financial exposure for the client, the Firm, or its clearing firm.

*These percentages can be raised without notice due to increase in market volatility or increase in individual stock and option volatility.



After a buy-in or liquidation, it is the customer’s responsibility to maintain or increase account equity to meet any margin or equity requirements imposed by law or regulation, the Firm, or its clearing firm.

Short Position Liquidation (Clearing House)



If the Firm or its clearing firm cannot continue to borrow the securities in which a customer has a short position, the Firm or its clearing firm may close a customer’s short position. For example:

In these examples, TradeZero America will try to notify customers that their short position(s) may be covered and if the customer covers their position prior to a Reg Sho Rule 204 or Broker Recall buy-in, the customer may end up long the position.

A Reg Sho Rule 204 cover normally happens on the opening of trading on T+3 but if the customers position is greater than the opening volume, the covering transaction may be spread out during the day. A Broker Recall can occur any time during the trading day.




If the customer receives a margin call and fails to fund his/her account or fails to cover the call by liquidation, TradeZero or its clearing firm may liquidate any position(s) in the account to satisfy the margin call.

Furthermore, the margin requirement for day trading is calculated differently than the margin requirement for holding position(s) overnight. As a result, if a customer is holding a position(s) in the afterhours trading session that will incur a large margin call or the portfolio is deemed too consolidated in one position by the Firm’s risk department, the Firm may reduce the position(s) to prevent an excessive margin call or undue risk. 

General Trading