Pattern day trader buying power: the equity floor before and after the flag
The flag changes the rules on your buying power. Enter your numbers and see the account before and after.
How it works: free equity is your equity minus the requirement of what you hold overnight. Regular buying power is free equity times the regular multiplier. A flagged account gets a different rule. If equity is at or above the floor, day-trading buying power is free equity times the day-trading multiplier. If equity is under the floor, the account has no day-trading buying power. It needs more equity first. The flag starts when your day trades reach your broker's count. Every rule number here is yours to type.
Before the flag and after it
Before the flag, your buying power is the regular number. After it, the floor decides. Above the floor, buying power can go up. Under it, day trading stops. The account is the same. The rule that applies is not. The idea is in the pattern day trader rule.
Buying power is not cash
A big buying power number is room to borrow. It is not money you own. Buying power was not cash shows how that goes wrong. A cash account has no multiplier at all. See cash versus margin account.
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