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alpacahq / Alpaca-API

The Alpaca API is a developer interface for trading operations and market data reception through the Alpaca platform.
https://alpaca.markets/
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insufficient day trading buying power (paper trading) #98

Closed suedadam closed 3 years ago

suedadam commented 4 years ago

I was trying to purchase GME for ~$5 which provided me with the error "insufficient day trading buying power".

This happened through the API and through the online website.

This happened at ~10:51AM PST.

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umitanuki commented 4 years ago

Can you check your Account API response for daytrading_buying_power?

ZippeyKeys12 commented 3 years ago

This means that you've run out of daytrading buying power, which is calculated as part of the Day Trade Margin Call (DTMC) Protection. The calculation is daytrading_buying_power = 4 * (last_equity - last_maintenance_margin) where you can get all these values from your account info. For example, if your last_maintenance_margin was greater than your last_equity, then you'll have a daytrading_buying_power of zero. Both of these are calculated at end of the last trading day, so closing overnight positions will not add to your daytrading buying power.

As for what your maintenance margin is, see the following table, where this is applied to each security held. Position Side Condition Margin Requirement
Long Share Price < $2.50 100% of EOD market value
Long Share Price ≥ $2.50 30% of EOD market value
Long 2x Leveraged ETF 60% of EOD market value
Long 3x Leveraged ETF 90% of EOD market value
Short Share Price < $5.00 Greater of $2.50/share or 100%
Short Share Price ≥ $5.00 Greater of $5.00/share or 30%