Thursday marks the first day that the Pattern Day Trader rule no longer applies to accounts under $25,000 — the most significant change to retail trading access in a generation, and a potential windfall for three publicly traded brokerages. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved FINRA’s elimination of the PDT designation and its $25,000 minimum equity requirement on April 14, with the new intraday risk-based margin framework taking effect Thursday, June 4. For 25 years, any margin account holder who executed four or more day trades in a rolling five-business-day period was flagged as a pattern day trader and locked out unless they maintained a $25,000 floor. That rule is now gone.