The following “Time In Force” preferences are available:

DAY – Valid from the time sent until 4 PM ET on that trading day.

DAY+ – Valid for all trading sessions for that day (4 AM until 8 PM ET)

GTC – Valid for 9:30 AM until 4 PM ET every day until cancelled

GTC+ – Valid for all trading sessions (4 AM until 8 PM ET) until cancelled.

If you have any unexecuted orders with TIF: “Day” and would like to trade your positions in the after-hours session, you must cancel the existing Day orders or you may get a reject notice.



Short orders are not compatible with GTC or GTC+.

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

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


 Call us at +1-877-4-TRADE-0 (Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET). We always pick up.


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?



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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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

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.

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. 

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



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. 

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.

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

TradeZero does not utilize CMTA clearing for retail clients.

TradeZero America does not support entering long positions below $0.05.

Additionally, shorting stocks below $1.00 is not supported.

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.

General Trading