Subject: Re: brk, spy and other indexes, 6/26
welcome to modern day wall street. Hopefully Buffett's heart is healthy enough to handle what's going on.


" For the past 25 years, day traders of stocks and options in the U.S. needed to have $25,000 sitting in their accounts. If they didn't, they could only execute three day trades over a five-day period, while making a fourth trade would flag them as a pattern day trader and lock them out of their account. No longer. The PDT (Pattern Day Trading) rule is disappearing today—or at least most of it.

Backdrop: The pattern day trading rule was implemented by FINRA in 2001 in response to the dot-com bubble. Active traders got hit hard during the downturn given the use of borrowed money, or trading on margin. New requirements were then put in place to fund their accounts in the hope of curbing excessive risk and speculative activity, as well as protecting brokerages from significant losses. However, critics have taken issue with the rule, saying that it was seemingly based on wealth rather than safety, and it was developed before the advent of zero-commission trading and real-time market access.

Under the new system, the $25,000 minimum balance is going away, as well as the old rule that counted trades and the label of a "Pattern Day Trader." Instead, brokers will utilize monitoring infrastructure to look at the actual risk of open trades, and could block overleveraged ones or issue a margin call by the end of a trading day. It's also a massive win for fast-moving derivatives, as retail accounts can now rapidly buy and sell zero-days-to-expiration (0DTE) options. Existing margin requirements are sticking around, however, including the $2,000 margin base minimum, the 25% margin maintenance rule, and the restrictions associated with repeatedly failing to pay off margin deficits on time.

Outlook: While FINRA is scrapping the PDT rule today, it is giving companies time to implement the changes across their systems. Brokerages like Robinhood (HOOD) and Webull (BULL) are jumping on the bandwagon immediately, though Charles Schwab (SCHW) is waiting until June 8, and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and E*TRADE (MS) are set to make the changes soon, but haven't stated an exact timeline. Unlocking unrestricted day trading is set to be a tailwind for the companies' bottom lines, fueling fresh transaction volume that will translate directly into higher payment for order flow, margin fees, or premium subscriptions."

WHO NEEDS VEGAS, roll those dice retail!! ucmtsu,no way. ::))