FINRA's Intraday Margin Standard: What Investors and Members Need to Know

A FINRA video episode in which Racquel Russell, director of capital markets policy, and James Barry, senior director of credit regulation, discuss the replacement of the Pattern Day Trader rule with the Intraday Margin Standard under FINRA Rule 4210. The conversation covers the history of the old $25,000 minimum-equity threshold and the rule behind it, why FINRA concluded that framework no longer worked, and what the new risk-based approach means for investors and member firms.

1. For more than two decades, the Pattern Day Trader rule required at least $25,000 in a brokerage account to trade actively, per the description.
2. FINRA replaced that rule with a risk-based framework under FINRA Rule 4210, the Intraday Margin Standard.
3. The episode covers why the old rules existed, why they stopped working, and what the new framework means for investors and member firms.
4. FINRA published related resources, including Rule 4210 interpretations, Regulatory Notice 26-10 on the new standards and investor insights on margin calls and intraday trading.