Does the pattern day trader rule apply to cash accounts?

The limit does not apply to cash accounts, but it does apply to margin accounts.

A FINRA rule applies to any customer who buys and sells particular security on the same trading day (day trades), but it only applies four or more times within five consecutive business days.

The penalty for violating this rule is less severe than if you were margin buying back-to-back like an avid trader would do on their own initiative--you'd still have some hefty fees due after your last transaction before being hit with strict supervision from one of these regulatory agencies, however!

If you're going to be a pattern day trader, the first thing that needs a must-have is an equity balance of $25k in your margin account.

You also can't start trading until this minimum has been reached and maintained throughout any given time period - usually 30 days or more depending on how much money we're talking about here (with higher amounts requiring longer periods).

You can use an off-shore brokerage, like Capital Markets Elite Group, that does not follow the PTD rules and lets you trade with 4X leverage. There are set dollar commissions on each trade ticket, so trading with only $500 per ticket is going to be a losing proposition. Better to start with at least $5,000, use stop losses, and be right the majority of the time.