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IBKR Pattern Day Trader (PDT) Rules in 2026
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Pattern Day-Trading at Interactive Brokers
Since Interactive Brokers (IBKR) focuses on advanced traders, it should be no surprise that the firm allows day trading. If you choose to day trade at
IBKR, you will still need to follow the same rules that other U.S. brokers must enforce. Here are the details:
IBKR Pattern Day-Trading Rules
If you are day trading with an Interactive Brokers account based in the United States, you
must follow FINRA’s rules for short-term trading. This means avoiding the following actions:
1) Making more than 3 securities day trades within a 5-business-day period.
2) Having day trades that make up more than 6% of the account’s total trading activity.
If you break either of these rules, you will need to keep $25,000 in your account. You can
trade with this money, as long as your account equity stays above that amount.
Interactive Brokers Promotion
Getting Around IBKR’s PDT Rule
If you cannot keep $25,000 in your account, you can open a cash account instead of a margin account. Cash accounts are not subject to the PDT rule.
Another way to avoid FINRA’s day trading rules is to trade assets that are not classified as securities. Futures and forex, for example, are not covered by FINRA, so they are not subject to PDT limits.
You could also swing trade. This means you enter a trade and exit it the next day or within the next two weeks. The PDT rule only applies to round-trip trades made on the same trading day.
Using IBKR’s Software for Short-Term Trading
Interactive Brokers has a desktop platform called Trader Workstation. It lets you place bracket orders, which many day traders use. To place a bracket order, click on the advanced tab on the order ticket and check the box for bracket order. You can then enter stop-loss and take-profit orders along with your main order.
The order ticket also supports other advanced order types that day traders may want, including OCO, hedge, adaptive, and IBALGO.
Trader Workstation keeps track of your day trades automatically. To see this, click on the Account tab in the top menu (in Mosaic mode) and then select Account Window.
Scroll down to Available for Trading and make sure there is a green minus sign on the far right (not a plus sign). Near the bottom of the list, you will see Day Trades Left.
This shows how many day trades you can still make before your account is marked as a PDT account. It also shows how many day trades you will have available on future trading days.
In the screenshot below, the software shows unlimited day trades left. That is because we were using demo mode during testing. In demo mode, you can day trade as much as you like.
If you are in live mode and have more than $25,000 in account equity, the Day Trades Left line will not appear because your account cannot be marked as a PDT account.
Alternative For Traders
For active traders, a good alternative broker is
Charles Schwab.
It offers commission-free trading on most products, higher interest on cash, and easy-to-use advanced trading tools.
Charles Schwab Promotion
Visit Schwab Website
Updated on 1/15/2026.
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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