Ryan, what you want to do cannot be done. A day trading account must be a margin account and have a minimum account equity balance of at least $25,000 at all times. Here are the FINRA rules as approved by the SEC:

https://www.sec.gov/answers/patterndaytr...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_day...

I'm considering an experiment involving high-frequency trading in a real stock market. I won't go into the details of the experiment under consideration but it would involve a large volume of automated trades. It also has no particular profit motive, being academic in nature. I would like to minimize the initial cash balance to something on the order of $1000 if possible, but this is quite flexible.

What I need to find out here is primarily how to get the largest number of trades for a fixed (preferably low) price (e.g. 100 trades for $5 or unlimited trades for a day for $500, though I'm not sure what constitutes a realistic rate). I want to be able to give my program a specific trade fee budget.

This would all take place in a cash account as opposed to one on margin, if that was in question.

I would also appreciate some elucidation on the relevant US laws and regulations with regards to this kind of trading.

Thanks for your help.