Key Takeaways

  • No single agency owns these rules. Tax and retirement rules come from the IRS, market plumbing and private offerings from the SEC, initial margin and cash account payment from the Federal Reserve Board, maintenance margin and day trading from FINRA, and the SIPC and FDIC coverage limits from Congress.
  • The cadence matters more than the number. Contribution limits and income phase-outs are adjusted for cost of living every year. Settlement timing, margin percentages, short selling rules and holding periods change only when a rule is amended, which can be years or decades apart.
  • Your broker's rule is frequently stricter than the federal one. Regulation T and FINRA Rule 4210 set floors. The house requirement your firm applies on top of them is what actually produces a margin call, and it can differ by security.
  • Two rules are mid-transition right now. FINRA's new intraday margin requirements take effect on 4 June 2026 and replace the existing day trading margin requirements, with a transition period running to 20 October 2027, so two firms can legitimately apply different day trading rules during that window.
  • SIPC is not FDIC and neither is a guarantee against loss. SIPC restores missing cash and securities at a failed brokerage; FDIC insures bank deposits. Neither one covers a price decline.
  • Every rule below links to the authority's own page. That link, not a figure copied onto this page, is the thing that stays correct.

Why This Tracker Prints No Dollar Figures

A page that lists this year's contribution limit is wrong next January, and nothing on the page tells the reader that. The sentence around the figure still reads as current, the page still ranks, and an AI answer engine quoting it will repeat a stale number with the confidence of a fresh one. That failure is silent, which is what makes it dangerous on a page about money.

So this tracker applies one editorial rule to itself, and states it openly:

  • No dollar amounts. Not contribution limits, not catch-up amounts, not income phase-outs, not the pattern day trader equity minimum, not the SIPC or FDIC coverage limits.
  • No percentages. Not the Regulation T initial margin requirement, not the FINRA maintenance requirement, not circuit breaker trigger levels, not tax rates.
  • Durations, counts and dates are stated, because they are the structure of the rule rather than a calibrated amount: a 30 day wash sale window, a one year holding period, T+1 settlement, four day trades in five business days, a 90 day cash account freeze, a six month or one year Rule 144 period. These are written into the rule itself and do not get reset for inflation.
  • Every rule names its authority and its change cadence, and links to the page where that authority publishes the current figure.

The result is a reference that stays accurate through every annual adjustment and every rulemaking, and that routes the reader to the primary source instead of to a copy of it. That is a better citation than a number, not a worse one.

The U.S. Investment Rule Register

Twenty-two rules, grouped by what they constrain. The right-hand column links to the authority's own page, which is where the current figure lives.

Federal rules and limits affecting US retail investors, with the setting authority, the change cadence, and the authoritative source page for each.
Rule What it constrains Who sets it How often the figure moves Authority page
Wash sale rule Whether a realised loss is deductible when a substantially identical position is reacquired IRS, under the Internal Revenue Code Window fixed by statute; no annual adjustment IRS: Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses
Capital gains holding period Whether a gain is short-term or long-term IRS, under the Internal Revenue Code Period fixed by statute; the rates and brackets are adjusted annually IRS: Topic No. 409
Qualified dividend holding period Whether a dividend is taxed at capital gain rates or as ordinary income IRS, under the Internal Revenue Code Period fixed by statute; the rates are adjusted annually IRS: Topic No. 404
Cost basis and disposition reporting How each sale is reported and matched to a lot IRS Form and instructions revised annually IRS: Instructions for Form 8949
IRA contribution limit Maximum annual contribution across traditional and Roth IRAs IRS, through cost of living adjustments Annually IRS: IRA Contribution Limits
IRA deduction and Roth income limits Whether a contribution is deductible, and whether a Roth contribution is permitted at all IRS Annually IRS: IRA Deduction Limits
401(k) elective deferral limit Maximum salary deferral into a workplace defined contribution plan IRS, through cost of living adjustments Annually IRS: 401(k) Contribution Limits
Catch-up contributions Extra contribution allowed from age 50, with a higher band at ages 60 to 63 IRS, under SECURE 2.0 Annually IRS: Catch-Up Contributions
Overall plan contribution and compensation limits Total annual additions to a plan and the compensation that can be counted IRS Annually IRS: COLA Increases for Dollar Limitations
Required minimum distributions When withdrawals must begin from most tax-deferred accounts, and the minimum amount IRS; the starting age is set by statute Starting age set by statute and scheduled to rise; life expectancy tables updated by regulation IRS: RMD FAQs
Inherited account distribution rules How quickly a beneficiary must empty an inherited retirement account IRS, under the SECURE Act On legislation and regulation only IRS: Publication 590-B
Regulation T initial margin The share of a new margin purchase the customer must fund Federal Reserve Board On rulemaking only Federal Reserve Board: Regulations
Maintenance margin Minimum equity that must remain in a margin account after the purchase FINRA, through Rule 4210, plus a stricter house requirement at most firms On rulemaking only; house requirements change at the firm's discretion FINRA: Rule 4210
Pattern day trader designation and equity minimum Who is designated a pattern day trader and what equity they must maintain FINRA Being replaced by new intraday margin requirements effective 4 June 2026, with a transition period to 20 October 2027 Investor.gov: Pattern Day Trader
Cash account payment and freeriding Selling a position before paying for it, and the resulting 90 day account freeze Federal Reserve Board, through Regulation T; applied by the broker On rulemaking only SEC Investor.gov: Freeriding
Standard settlement cycle When cash and securities actually change hands after a trade SEC, through Rule 15c6-1 On rulemaking only; last shortened with a compliance date of 28 May 2024 SEC: Release 34-96930
Regulation SHO locate requirement Whether a short sale may be entered at all SEC On rulemaking only SEC: Key Points About Regulation SHO
Regulation SHO close-out requirement How quickly a failure to deliver must be closed out SEC On rulemaking only SEC: Amendments to Regulation SHO (Rule 204 close-out requirement, Release No. 34-60388)
Short sale price test Restricts short selling in a security after a severe intraday decline SEC On rulemaking only SEC: Release 34-61595
Limit up-limit down bands Price bands and short pauses in an individual listed security The national market system plan participants, approved by the SEC On plan amendment approved by the SEC SEC: Release 34-67091
Market-wide circuit breakers Cross-market halts during a severe single-day decline in the S&P 500 The exchanges, through rule filings approved by the SEC On rule filing only; the point levels are recalculated daily from the prior close SEC: Investor Bulletin on Market Volatility
SIPC coverage Restoration of missing cash and securities at a failed brokerage firm Congress, through the Securities Investor Protection Act; administered by SIPC Statutory; changes only when Congress amends the Act SIPC: What SIPC Protects
FDIC deposit insurance Deposits held at an insured bank, per depositor, per ownership category Congress, through the standard maximum deposit insurance amount; administered by the FDIC Statutory, subject to a periodic inflation review FDIC: Understanding Deposit Insurance
Accredited investor definition Who may participate in many private offerings SEC, through Rule 501 of Regulation D On rulemaking only; the dollar tests are not indexed SEC: Accredited Investors
Rule 144 holding periods How long restricted securities must be held before public resale SEC On rulemaking only SEC: Rule 144

Which Rules Change Every Year and Which Do Not

Grouping the register by cadence is the single most useful view of it, because it tells you which figures you have to re-check every January and which you can treat as stable until a rulemaking says otherwise.

financial calculator data analysis US Investment Rule which rules
Photo by masch via Pixabay
Rules grouped by how often the underlying figure changes.
Cadence Rules on this cadence What actually triggers the change
Every tax year IRA and 401(k) contribution limits, catch-up amounts, IRA deduction and Roth income limits, overall plan contribution and compensation limits, capital gains rate brackets Cost of living adjustments published by the IRS, generally announced late in the preceding calendar year
Every trading day Market-wide circuit breaker point levels, limit up-limit down band boundaries Recalculated mechanically from the prior close and the preceding five minute average price, without any rule change
On rulemaking only Settlement cycle, Regulation T initial margin, FINRA maintenance margin, Regulation SHO locate and close-out, short sale price test, accredited investor tests, Rule 144 holding periods An adopted SEC release, an approved FINRA rule filing, or a Federal Reserve Board amendment, each with its own effective and compliance dates
On legislation only SIPC coverage limits, the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount, the required minimum distribution starting age, the wash sale window, the capital gains holding period An Act of Congress. The FDIC amount is additionally subject to a periodic inflation review written into the statute
At the firm's discretion House margin requirements, day trading buying power policy, whether a security is marginable at all, good faith violation counting The brokerage firm's own risk policy, which may be stricter than the federal floor and can change without notice

Which Tax Rules Decide What a Trade Costs You?

Three IRS rules do most of the work: the wash sale rule decides whether a loss counts this year, the capital gains holding period decides which rate applies to a gain, and the qualified dividend holding period decides which rate applies to a dividend.

The wash sale rule

A wash sale occurs when you sell or trade securities at a loss and, within 30 days before or after that sale, you buy substantially identical securities, acquire substantially identical securities in a fully taxable trade, or acquire a contract or option to buy substantially identical securities. The IRS does not allow the loss to be deducted in that year. Because the window runs in both directions, the practical span is 61 days centred on the sale. The disallowed loss is generally added to the basis of the replacement position, so it is deferred rather than destroyed. The mechanics and the exceptions are set out in IRS: Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses, and the definition is summarised on the SEC's Investor.gov glossary.

Holding periods

A capital asset held for more than one year produces a long-term gain or loss; one year or less produces a short-term one. The holding period generally begins the day after acquisition and ends on the day of disposition. Long-term gains are taxed at capital gain rates and short-term gains at ordinary income rates, and the brackets for both are adjusted annually. See IRS Topic No. 409 for the current treatment and IRS Publication 551 for how basis is determined.

Qualified dividends

Dividends are ordinary or qualified. Qualified dividends are taxed at capital gain rates rather than ordinary rates, and one of the conditions is a minimum holding period around the ex-dividend date. The payer is required to identify which of your ordinary dividends are qualified on Form 1099-DIV, so the classification arrives with the tax form rather than being something you compute. IRS Topic No. 404 covers the distinction and points to Publication 550 for the definition itself.

How Do Retirement Account Limits and Withdrawals Work?

Retirement account rules are the part of this register that moves the most, because almost every figure in them is indexed for cost of living and republished each year by the IRS.

Contributions

IRA and workplace plan limits are separate and stack. The IRA limit applies across traditional and Roth IRAs combined, and separate income limits decide whether a traditional contribution is deductible and whether a Roth contribution is allowed at all. Workplace plans have their own elective deferral limit plus an overall limit on total annual additions. All of these are published each year on the IRS pages linked in the register, and the consolidated table lives at the IRS page for COLA increases on dollar limitations.

Catch-up contributions

Catch-up contributions are available from the end of the calendar year in which you turn 50. Under SECURE 2.0 a higher catch-up limit applies to participants who turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 in the calendar year in most 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457 plans and in the federal Thrift Savings Plan. A separate SECURE 2.0 provision requires catch-up contributions to be made on a Roth basis for participants whose prior-year wages with the plan sponsor exceeded a stated threshold. The IRS catch-up contributions page carries the current amounts and the wage threshold.

Required minimum distributions

Required minimum distributions are the minimum amounts you must withdraw each year from a traditional IRA, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA and most workplace plan accounts, starting in the year you reach the applicable age. The starting age is set by statute and is scheduled to rise, which is precisely why it is not printed here. A participant in a workplace plan can generally delay until the year of retirement unless they own five percent or more of the sponsoring business. The first distribution is due by 1 April of the year after the year the applicable age is reached, and every distribution after that is due by 31 December. Roth IRA withdrawals are not required during the owner's lifetime. Beneficiaries of accounts whose owner died after 31 December 2019 generally have to empty the account within ten years, with exceptions for a surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, and a beneficiary not more than ten years younger than the owner. The IRS required minimum distribution FAQs and IRS Publication 590-B are the authorities. Plan-level participant rights are described by the Department of Labor in What You Should Know About Your Retirement Plan.

Who Sets Margin Requirements and Day Trading Rules?

Margin is the clearest example of why naming the authority matters: three different bodies set three different requirements on the same account, and the one that affects you is usually the one furthest from the federal rulebook.

  1. The Federal Reserve Board sets initial margin. Regulation T governs how much of a new margin purchase the customer has to fund. The Board maintains its regulations at the Federal Reserve Board regulations index.
  2. FINRA sets maintenance margin. Rule 4210 governs the minimum equity that must stay in the account once the position is open, and it is the rule under which a maintenance call is generated. See FINRA Rule 4210 and FINRA's margin accounts key topic page.
  3. Your brokerage firm sets the house requirement. Firms routinely require more equity than the federal floor, apply higher requirements to volatile or concentrated positions, and reserve the right to sell securities without contacting you first. The SEC's investor publication on margin is explicit that a firm may sell your securities without notification.

The pattern day trader rule

FINRA rules define a pattern day trader as a customer who executes four or more day trades within five business days, where those day trades represent more than six percent of the customer's total trades in the margin account over the same period. A customer designated a pattern day trader has to trade in a margin account and maintain a minimum equity balance set by FINRA. Firms may apply a broader definition and may designate a customer they reasonably believe will trade this way.

This rule is mid-transition. FINRA has adopted new intraday margin requirements that replace the existing day trading margin requirements, including those for pattern day traders. They take effect on 4 June 2026 and permit a transition period until 20 October 2027 for firms that need longer to comply, which means two firms can legitimately apply different rules to the same trading pattern during that window. The SEC records the change on its Investor.gov: Pattern Day Trader. The SEC's Day Trading: Your Dollars at Risk covers the risk side.

Cash accounts, freeriding and good faith violations

Good faith violation is brokerage terminology, not the name of a federal rule. The underlying requirement is Regulation T's cash account rule: a purchase must be paid for before the position is sold. Selling before paying is freeriding, which Regulation T does not permit and which may require the broker to freeze the cash account for 90 days. During a freeze the account can still buy securities, but each purchase has to be fully paid for on the trade date. The SEC states the mechanics on its Investor.gov freeriding entry. How a specific firm counts violations, and what it does after the second or third, is firm policy rather than federal rule.

How Long Does a US Stock Trade Take to Settle?

The standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions is one business day after the trade date, known as T+1. The SEC shortened it from two business days by amending Rule 15c6-1, adopted on 15 February 2023 in Release 34-96930, with a compliance date of 28 May 2024. The Commission announced the adoption in press release 2023-29.

Overhead view of a workspace with a laptop, smartphone displaying a chart, and notebook for financial analysis.
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexels

Settlement timing is the input to several other rules on this page, which is why a stale answer here propagates. Cash account payment obligations, the point at which a sale's proceeds become available without freeriding, and the close-out deadlines in Regulation SHO are all counted from settlement date. Any explanation that still says T+2 predates the 2024 compliance date, including some older pages on regulators' own sites that have not been revised.

The same rulemaking also tightened institutional trade processing, requiring allocations, confirmations and affirmations to be completed as soon as technologically practicable and no later than the end of trade date, and requiring central matching service providers to have policies facilitating straight-through processing. Those obligations sit with firms rather than with retail customers, but they are why the retail-facing cycle could be shortened at all.

What Stops Trading When Prices Move Too Fast?

Two separate mechanisms, at two different scopes. Limit up-limit down operates on one security at a time. Market-wide circuit breakers operate across the whole market.

Limit up-limit down

Limit up-limit down is a national market system plan that prevents trades in an individual listed security from occurring outside a price band. The band is set at a percentage above and below the average price of that security over the immediately preceding five minute period, the percentage depends on the price of the security, and the bands widen during the opening and closing periods of the trading day. If the price does not move back inside the band within a short interval, a five minute trading pause follows. The SEC approved the plan on 31 May 2012 in Release 34-67091, replacing the single-stock circuit breakers introduced after the May 2010 disruption. Because the plan participants amend it and the SEC approves the amendments, the current band widths live with the plan rather than in the original order.

Market-wide circuit breakers

Market-wide circuit breakers coordinate halts across the securities and futures markets when a severe single-day decline in the S&P 500 threatens to exhaust liquidity. There are three levels. A decline that triggers the first or second level before a cutoff time late in the session halts trading market-wide for a fixed period; the same decline at or after that cutoff does not halt trading. A decline that triggers the third level closes the market for the remainder of the day, at any time. The trigger points are set by the markets and recalculated daily from the prior day's closing price of the index. The SEC describes both mechanisms in its investor bulletin on measures to address market volatility.

What Rules Apply to Selling a Stock Short?

Regulation SHO governs short selling. It was adopted by the SEC in Release 34-50103, issued 28 July 2004, with compliance beginning on 3 January 2005, and it has been amended several times since. The SEC's SEC: Key Points About Regulation SHO is the plain-language summary. Three obligations matter to a retail short seller.

  1. The locate requirement. Before accepting a short sale order, a broker-dealer generally has to have borrowed the security, arranged to borrow it, or have reasonable grounds to believe it can be borrowed and delivered on time. This is why a hard-to-borrow security can simply be unavailable to short in your account.
  2. The close-out requirement. A failure to deliver has to be closed out within a defined period after settlement date. The SEC made the current close-out framework permanent in SEC: Amendments to Regulation SHO (Rule 204 close-out requirement, Release No. 34-60388), issued 27 July 2009 and effective 31 July 2009. Because the deadline is counted from settlement date, the move to T+1 moved this deadline too.
  3. The short sale price test. After a severe intraday decline in a covered security measured against the prior day's closing price, short selling in that security is restricted for the remainder of the day and the following day. The SEC adopted the test in Release 34-61595, issued 26 February 2010 and effective 10 May 2010.

A short sale is a margin transaction, so the margin rules above apply on top of these. The borrowed shares also carry an obligation to pay any dividend to the lender, and the borrow can be recalled.

What Do SIPC and FDIC Actually Cover?

Neither one insures you against losing money on an investment. They cover the failure of the institution holding your assets, and they cover different institutions.

SIPC protection compared with FDIC deposit insurance.
Question SIPC FDIC
What fails A SIPC member brokerage firm An FDIC-insured bank
What is restored Missing cash and securities that were in the account when the liquidation began Deposit balances
How the limit is applied A statutory limit per customer, with a lower sub-limit for cash Per depositor, per ownership category, at each insured bank
Covered Stocks, bonds, Treasury securities, certificates of deposit, mutual funds and money market mutual funds held at the firm Checking, savings, NOW and money market deposit accounts, time deposits such as CDs, and official items such as cashier's checks
Not covered Decline in the value of a security, bad advice, unsuitable recommendations, commodity futures outside a portfolio margining account, foreign exchange trades, and digital assets that are not registered securities Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, life insurance, safe deposit box contents, Treasury securities, municipal securities and crypto assets, even when sold through the bank
Who sets the limit Congress, through the Securities Investor Protection Act Congress, through the standard maximum deposit insurance amount
Authority page SIPC: What SIPC Protects FDIC: Understanding Deposit Insurance

The practical consequence of the ownership category structure on the FDIC side is that the same person can hold more than the per-category limit at one bank and still be fully covered, if the balances sit in genuinely different categories such as a single account and a joint account. The practical consequence on the SIPC side is that protection is about custody, not performance: SIPC replaces missing securities where it can, and does nothing at all about a security that simply fell.

Who Can Buy Private Offerings and When Can They Sell?

The accredited investor definition

Many exemptions from registration limit participation to accredited investors, so the definition decides who is even eligible for a large part of the private market. The SEC sets it in Rule 501 of Regulation D. Individuals can qualify on financial criteria, through a net worth test that excludes the value of the primary residence or an income test met in each of the two prior years with a reasonable expectation of the same in the current year. Individuals can also qualify on professional criteria, by holding a Series 7, Series 65 or Series 82 licence in good standing, by being a director, executive officer or general partner of the company selling the securities, by being a family client of a family office that itself qualifies, or, for an investment in a private fund, by being a knowledgeable employee of that fund. Entities qualify on separate tests covering investments owned, total assets, the accredited status of all equity owners, and specified categories of financial institution. The current tests are on the SEC's accredited investors building block.

financial calculator data analysis US Investment Rule who buy
Photo by stevepb via Pixabay

Rule 144 holding periods

Restricted securities are acquired in unregistered private sales from the issuer or an affiliate. Control securities are held by an affiliate. Selling either into the public market requires an exemption, and Rule 144 is the safe harbour most sellers use. The holding period is at least six months if the issuer is a reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and at least one year if it is not. The clock starts when the securities were bought and fully paid for. Holding period is only one of the rule's conditions: adequate current public information about the issuer, volume limitations, ordinary brokerage transaction requirements and a notice filing can apply too, and which of them apply depends on whether the seller is an affiliate. The SEC's Rule 144 overview walks through all five conditions and the process for removing a restrictive legend.

What Has Changed Most Recently

Dated changes, newest first, each with the authority that made it. This is the part of the register most likely to catch out an explanation written a year ago.

Recent changes to US investment rules, with effective dates and the authority responsible.
Effective Change Authority
4 June 2026 New intraday margin requirements replace the day trading margin requirements, including those for pattern day traders. A transition period runs to 20 October 2027, so firms may still apply the previous requirements during it. FINRA, recorded on Investor.gov: Pattern Day Trader
2026 tax year Catch-up contributions must be made on a Roth basis for participants in plans with Roth features whose prior-year wages with the plan sponsor exceeded a stated threshold. IRS, under SECURE 2.0, on the catch-up contributions page
2025 tax year A higher catch-up contribution limit applies to participants who turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 during the calendar year. IRS, under SECURE 2.0, on the catch-up contributions page
28 May 2024 The standard settlement cycle shortened from two business days to one. SEC, Release 34-96930
31 May 2012 The limit up-limit down mechanism was approved, replacing single-stock circuit breakers, with phased implementation through 2013. SEC, Release 34-67091
10 May 2010 The short sale price test in Rule 201 of Regulation SHO took effect. SEC, Release 34-61595
31 July 2009 The Regulation SHO close-out framework for failures to deliver was made permanent. SEC, SEC: Amendments to Regulation SHO (Rule 204 close-out requirement, Release No. 34-60388)

Common Mistakes and Misconceptions

  • Treating the federal margin requirement as your margin requirement. Regulation T and FINRA Rule 4210 set floors. The house requirement your firm applies is usually higher, varies by security, and is what generates the call.
  • Assuming the wash sale window is 30 days. It runs 30 days before and 30 days after the sale, so the span you have to keep clear is 61 days centred on the disposal, not 30 days after it.
  • Thinking a wash sale destroys the loss. It is generally deferred into the basis of the replacement position, not eliminated. That matters for planning, and it matters for reconciling a broker's reported figures.
  • Reading "good faith violation" as a rule name. It is a broker's label for a Regulation T cash account payment problem. Searching for the rule by that name finds broker help pages, not the regulation.
  • Believing SIPC covers investment losses. It covers missing assets at a failed firm. A stock that fell is not a missing asset.
  • Assuming an FDIC-insured bank means an insured investment. Deposit insurance covers deposits. Stocks, bonds, funds, annuities and crypto assets bought through the same bank are not covered.
  • Quoting T+2. The cycle has been T+1 since the 28 May 2024 compliance date, and settlement date is the input to several other deadlines on this page.
  • Using last year's contribution limit. Almost every retirement figure is adjusted annually. That is why this page links to the IRS pages rather than reprinting them.

What This Tracker Is Not

  • It is not tax or legal advice. It states what the rules are and who sets them. How any of them applies to a particular account, holding or transaction depends on facts this page does not have.
  • It is not a substitute for the authority. Every entry links to the body that publishes the current figure precisely because that page, not this one, is the source of record.
  • It is not exhaustive. It covers federal rules a US retail investor meets in ordinary brokerage and retirement activity. State rules, futures and derivatives-specific requirements set by the CFTC, employer plan documents and firm-specific policies all sit outside it.
  • It does not cover non-US investors or non-US markets. Every rule here is a US federal rule, and jurisdiction is recorded as such.
  • It carries no figures by design. If you need the number, follow the link in the register. That is the whole point of the format.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the wash sale rule?

A wash sale happens when you sell or trade a security at a loss and, within 30 days before or after that sale, buy a substantially identical security, acquire one in a fully taxable trade, or acquire a contract or option to buy one. The loss is not deductible in that year. The rule is written into the Internal Revenue Code and administered by the IRS, and the disallowed loss is generally added to the basis of the replacement position rather than lost outright. The window is a fixed statutory period, not a figure the IRS resets each year.

Who sets margin requirements in the United States?

Three parties set them, one on top of the other. The Federal Reserve Board sets the initial margin requirement through Regulation T, which governs how much of a new margin purchase the customer has to fund. FINRA sets the ongoing maintenance requirement through Rule 4210, which governs the minimum equity that must stay in the account afterwards. The brokerage firm then applies its own house requirement, which may be stricter than either and is the one that actually produces your margin call. Reading only the federal number tells you very little about your own account.

What is the pattern day trader rule?

FINRA rules define a pattern day trader as a customer who executes four or more day trades within five business days, where those day trades are more than six percent of the customer's total trades in the margin account over the same period. A designated pattern day trader must trade in a margin account and keep a minimum equity balance set by FINRA. A firm may also apply a broader definition, and may designate a customer it reasonably believes will trade that way. FINRA has adopted new intraday margin requirements, effective 4 June 2026, that replace the day trading margin requirements including those for pattern day traders, with a transition period running to 20 October 2027.

How long does a US stock trade take to settle?

The standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions is one business day after the trade date, known as T+1. The SEC set it by amending Rule 15c6-1 in Release 34-96930, adopted 15 February 2023, with a compliance date of 28 May 2024. It replaced a two business day cycle. Settlement timing is set by SEC rulemaking, so it does not drift year to year, but older explanations that still say T+2 predate this change.

What does SIPC coverage actually protect?

SIPC protects the custody function of a brokerage firm. If a SIPC member firm fails and customer assets are missing, SIPC works to restore the cash and securities that were in the account when the liquidation began, subject to a statutory limit with a lower sub-limit for cash. It does not protect against a decline in the value of your investments, against bad advice, or against unsuitable recommendations. It does not cover commodity futures outside a portfolio margining account, foreign exchange trades, or digital assets that are not registered securities.

How is FDIC insurance different from SIPC protection?

They cover different institutions and different risks. FDIC deposit insurance covers deposits at an insured bank, per depositor, per ownership category, per bank, and the covered balance cannot fall. SIPC covers missing cash and securities at a failed brokerage firm and never covers market losses. FDIC insurance does not extend to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, crypto assets, or Treasury securities held through a bank, even when the bank sold them to you.

Why does this tracker not list the current contribution limits?

Because a printed figure goes stale silently and a reader cannot tell. Contribution limits, catch-up amounts and income phase-outs are adjusted for cost of living, so a number that is right in one tax year is wrong in the next while the sentence around it still reads as current. Naming the agency, the adjustment cadence and the page where that agency publishes the figure stays correct across every future adjustment, and it sends the reader to the authority rather than to a copy of it.

What is the holding period for long-term capital gains treatment?

A capital asset held for more than one year before it is sold produces a long-term gain or loss; one year or less produces a short-term gain or loss. The holding period generally starts the day after you acquire the asset and ends on the day you dispose of it. The period itself is statutory and does not move, but the tax rates and income brackets that apply to long-term gains are adjusted annually, so the rate is published by the IRS rather than fixed.

What triggers a short sale circuit breaker?

Rule 201 of Regulation SHO applies a short sale price test to a covered security after a severe intraday decline from the prior day's closing price. Once triggered, short selling in that security is restricted for the rest of the day and the following day. The SEC adopted the rule in Release 34-61595, issued 26 February 2010 and effective 10 May 2010. The trigger threshold and the mechanics are set by SEC rulemaking, not recalculated on a schedule.

What are limit up-limit down bands?

Limit up-limit down is a national market system plan that prevents trades in an individual listed security from occurring outside a price band set around the average price of that security over the preceding five minute period. The band width depends on the price of the security and is wider during the opening and closing periods. If the price does not return inside the band within a short interval, a five minute trading pause follows. The SEC approved the plan in Release 34-67091 on 31 May 2012, and the plan participants amend it with SEC approval.

When do market-wide circuit breakers halt trading?

Market-wide circuit breakers halt trading across markets when the S&P 500 falls by set percentages from the prior day's closing price during a single session. There are three levels. The first two halt trading for a fixed period when they are hit before a cutoff time late in the session, and do not halt trading at or after that cutoff. The third level closes the market for the remainder of the day whenever it is hit. The exchanges file the rules and the SEC approves them, and the point levels are recalculated daily from the prior close.

What is a good faith violation in a cash account?

Good faith violation is brokerage terminology rather than the name of a federal rule. The underlying rule is the cash account payment requirement in the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation T: in a cash account you must pay for a purchase before you sell it. Selling before paying is freeriding, which Regulation T does not permit and which may require the broker to freeze the cash account for 90 days. During a freeze you can still buy securities, but every purchase has to be fully paid for on the trade date.

Who qualifies as an accredited investor?

The SEC defines the term in Rule 501 of Regulation D. An individual can qualify on financial criteria, through a net worth test that excludes the primary residence or an income test met in each of the two prior years with a reasonable expectation of the same in the current year. An individual can also qualify on professional criteria, by holding a Series 7, Series 65 or Series 82 licence in good standing, by being a director, executive officer or general partner of the issuer, by being a family client of a qualifying family office, or, for a private fund investment, by being a knowledgeable employee of that fund. Entities qualify on separate asset, investment and ownership tests.

How long must restricted securities be held under Rule 144?

Rule 144 sets a minimum holding period before restricted securities may be resold publicly. If the issuing company is a reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the holding period is at least six months. If the issuer is not subject to those reporting requirements, it is at least one year. The period begins when the securities were bought and fully paid for, and holding period is only one of the rule's conditions. Current public information, volume limits, ordinary brokerage transaction requirements and notice filing can apply as well, depending on whether the seller is an affiliate.

References

Every source above was requested and its document title confirmed on 24 August 2026. The two finra.org links resolved successfully early in that verification pass and were then refused by the host on a later re-check, which is normal behaviour for that site and is not evidence of link rot; the rule number and title are stated so the rule can be located directly in the FINRA rulebook if a link fails. Rules and limits change, so any figure taken from a linked page should be read from that page rather than from any summary of it, including this one.