Trading the NYSE - Do I need the series 57?

Global Markets
1

Hey Guys,

I have developed a pretty bad-ass set of strats that I want to use to trade on the NYSE, that aced my back-testing shenanigans.

Problem is, I don’t know whether or not I need to take and pass the series 57 exam before I can open an account?

I’ll be trading for my personal account, with a deposit of around $5 000 or so, using a 1:4 margin account.

Can anyone enlighten me about whether the exam is required or not?

Thanks,
Lex :slight_smile:

2

No, you do not need any of that but per FINRA you need at least $25,000 to day trade, and your broker may require even more.

Here’s an alternative, day trade/scalp using synthetic long/synthetic short positions using options. An option is leveraged about 1:4. Alternarive #2 is do a pairs trade on the futures between /ES and /YM, where you long one and short the other. Emini futures are far too large in notional for your account size, but doing a pairs trade between the SP500 and NASDAQ will create a synthetic micro-like contract with much less notional exposure, and requires very little capital. Alternative #3 is to trade the triple velocity indice etfs, which will give you 3x leverage. The problem here will be you cant trade too often otherwise you will violate FINRA’s pattern day trading rules. A #4 alternative depending on where you live is to trade using CFDs.

I think your best bet is to use options or futures to create synthetic positions with sufficient leverage.

3

Thanks @krugman25 , I’ll look into that.

Appreciate the help, I thought I was forgotten about for moment.