How to Change Robinhood to Cash Account? (Step By Step Guide)

Robinhood was created with the goal in mind to democratize financing for everyone, regardless of their financial status. This means that their new and advanced customers will enjoy the benefits of new services, products, and educational tools. However, their long-term customers have been requesting one feature for quite some time. Robinhood is a well-known commission-free US stock investing and trading app that has recently declared that they have made options available for its customers for trading in cash accounts.

With this, Robinhood has also rolled out a few features for trying to keep its customers engaged in the stock market slumps. Previously, Robinhood’s advanced customers only had the ability to exchange-traded funds (EFTs) and trade stocks. In this article, we will dive further into how to change Robinhood to cash account and in what ways it is helpful.

What is a Cash Account?

Cash accounts allow you to trade stocks and ETPs and access other options without worrying about the number of your day trades. This is possible because cash accounts do not subject to Pattern Day Trading or (PDT) regulations. Before you start investing, the deposits have to be precise. However, clearing your deposits may take up to 5 business days. Still, the duration depends on your deposit history in Robinhood and the deposit method.

Cash accounts cannot access the level 3 options trading or rolling. Only level 2 options trading will be accessible if the options are approved. Moreover, unsettled funds cannot be traded in cash accounts. Funds from equity sales will take almost two business days to trade, and funds from option sales will take up to 1 business day.

Why Did Robinhood Open Options for Trading in Cash Accounts?

The options of trading in cash accounts are a primary offering from the industry. The trading option carries significant risk and might not be appropriate for all customers. For this reason, only interested customers should apply for this access. Then the authority will check their accounts to inspect if they meet the qualifications.

Robinhood prioritized this option as many of their customers have been demanding it for quite some time. Moreover, a cash account only lets customers use settled funds or deposit cash to make funds. Now, advanced customers who are cash account owners can access new options without having to worry about their daily number of trades and can trade stocks and ETFs.

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The Ways to Change Robinhood Into a Cash Account

Before you go through with this, remember that this action is permanent, and ask yourself if this is actually what you want.

• Go into your Robinhood app and tap on the little person account at the bottom right corner.
• After that, go to the menu by tapping on the three lines at the top right.
• Tap on the first option, which says “Investing,” where you will find all the options to change many settings on your Robinhood account. It is important to know these details as you can change many things about their account from this option, and there is important information that is essential for you to be aware of.
• Get to the bottom of the list and tap on the “Day Trade Settings” options. Here, even if you do not want to change your Robinhood margin account to a cash account, you will get to know about your day trades, and it is helpful in some cases.
• This section also provides you with various information other than your daily trades.
• Then, you will see that the Pattern Day Trade Protection is automatically on by default, and it is essential to keep it activated as it prevents you from going for trades on three consecutive days within five days.
• Scroll down to find “Tap Off Instant Settlement” and select that to switch to a cash account.
• You will receive a confirmation text saying that before investing, you have to wait 3 to 5 days for the funds to settle.

Some Rules to Follow Before You Change Robinhood to a Cash Account

During a five-day trading period, you generally have limitations to carry out trades not more than three consecutive days without having a minimum portfolio value of $25,000 in your margin brokerage account (not taking into account any cryptocurrency points) by the end of the last day. It means that within the five-day trading period, if you place a trade on the 4th day, your account will be flagged as a pattern day trader (PDT) account.

This means that you are required to have a portfolio value of more than $25,000 at the end of that trading day so that you can keep on making day trading on consecutive days. But suppose you want to keep trading and searching for a path to get around PDT without funding a margin account with more than $25,000. In that case, you can consider opening a different account on another platform instead of changing it to a cash account.

You can look into Webull or other apps for opening a new account to continue with day trading. If you violate the PDT rule, then the penalty results in the liquidation of your account, and your account gets frozen for 90 days. While day trading using a Robinhood margin account, you should keep the PDT protection on at all times to avoid mistakes from happening.

Final Words

Robinhood is a popular US stock trading app. Robinhood’s no-commission investing has won it many consumers in recent years. Many consumers have asked for some time to be able to switch to cash accounts. Advanced Robinhood clients now have this choice. Robinhood investigates cash account requests before accepting them. Permanently approving this process takes time. Also, you need adequate money. Hope you understand from This post how to change Robinhood to cash account.

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