[Robert2617]

TradeStation requires $30,000. With TS (and stocks), if you have 4 round trips in any 5 day period, they will classify you as a pattern day trader and request the additional funds to equal $30K. Until you send them the money, they will only let you sell what you own and you cannot buy anything else.

Again with TS, if you fund your acct with the minimum, $5,000, you are only allowed 3.5 round trips in any 5 day period.

As far as the "T3" rule, it doesn't come into play as much with TS because the minimum non-pattern acct will have a margin equal to the acct balance.

The T3 rule goes like this:
Buy X and use all your funds and sell it the same day. You can buy Y with the funds you have coming, the same day, but you cannot sell it until the funds actually clear, three days later. In other words you could be stuck for 3 days holding a stock even if it is going down.

T3 Rule and Pattern Day Trading rules are two different sets of rules.

On the other hand, trading Futures does not have either rule. You can trade as much as you can stand because everything is settled that day. The catch is that you have to have a seperate stand alone acct to trade Futures. The minimum Futures acct with TS is $5,000. So if you wanted to trade both, with the minimum, you will need $10,000.

This is my understanding.