SEC Removes "Pattern Day Trader" Rules: Here's What It Means For Brokers

On April 14, the SEC approved a FINRA proposal to amend and remove pattern day trading rules. This removes the need for a trader to hold $25k in equity if they were flagged as pattern day traders, and replace this with intraday margin requirements.

As this likely reduces margin requirements for traders, which would allow more smaller-sized accounts to trade more actively, this could drive increased retail trading volumes in equities, which could benefit retail brokers, including HOOD, IBKR and Neutral-rated ETOR, and - according to Goldman broker analyst team - in particular HOOD, which has a smaller average account sizes ($24k as of 4Q25), and mostly US exposure, whereas IBKR has larger average accounts, and ETOR is predominantly non-US exposed.