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J.P. Morgan Chase Pattern Day Trading (PDT) in 2025
Pattern day trading rules at J.P. Morgan Chase. Pattern day trader PDT requirements and limits for
margin and cash accounts above/below $25,000 balance.
Can you day trade on Chase?
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Pattern Day Trading at J.P. Morgan Chase
If you’re looking for a place to day trade, you could go with J.P. Morgan Chase. You’ll
need to avoid having your account flagged as a pattern-day-trading account (PDT account);
otherwise, you’ll have to come up with $25,000 in account equity to continue trading.
FINRA’s PDT Rule
FINRA is responsible for policing the U.S. securities market. It does this by making rules and enforcing them with sanctions. One of these rules, like it or not, is the pattern-day-trading (PDT) rule. Although the rule doesn’t come from J.P. Morgan Chase, the broker is a member of FINRA; so it has to enforce it.
The PDT rule simply says that a pattern-day trading account must keep equity of at least $25,000. And how exactly does FINRA define a PDT account? Here it is:
- Margin account, not a cash account
- Places four or more stocks, options, ETFs, or other securities day trades in five business days
- Total day trades account for at least 6% of total trading activity
While that may sound like a mouth full, the good news is that any account that doesn’t meet all three criteria is not considered a PDT account and does not have to follow the $25,000 rule.
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Methods to Avoid PDT Classification
Using FINRA’s definition, we can see several ways to avoid the dreaded PDT flag.
First and foremost, you could day trade inside a cash account. Only margin accounts can be flagged as PDT accounts. If you do decide to open a cash account, be aware that you won’t be able to trade until funds settle (you have no margin). Currently, equity trades take two business days after the trade date to clear.
The next idea is to place just
3 day trades in a rolling 5-business-day period. As long as you stay under this limit, your account will never be flagged as a PDT account. If you just want to get some practice in, this would be a good strategy.
If you have a lot of regular trades in your account, you may be able to keep your day trades to less
than 6% of your account’s total trading activity. This would also avoid PDT classification.
A final idea is to swing trade instead of day trade. With swing trading, you buy and sell within a 2-week period, but not within the same day. Many day-trading strategies can be incorporated into swing trading.
Better Broker For Traders
For day traders, a great alternative broker is
Charles Schwab.
It has a number of advantages over J.P. Morgan Chase: Thinkorswim trading platform, virtual, forex, and futures trading,
more products, and advanced trading tools.
Charles Schwab Website
Visit Schwab Website
Updated on 2/3/2025.

Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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