> You absolutely can purchase $125K in stocks for $12.5K cash [...]
This isn't quite right. You can only get 2x leverage on your margin account for overnight holds (i.e. long-term investment.) The maximum leverage federally allowed is 4x, and you have to liquidate half before the end of the trading day (to go back to 2x) otherwise your broker will automatically liquidate half of your position.
If you buy E-mini S&P 500 futures, your effective overnight leverage can be up to 22x. You could put part of your money in short term bonds to avoid such extreme leverage.
There are also 3x leveraged ETFs you can hold overnight.
Of course, this means you aren't directly owning stocks.
This isn't quite right. You can only get 2x leverage on your margin account for overnight holds (i.e. long-term investment.) The maximum leverage federally allowed is 4x, and you have to liquidate half before the end of the trading day (to go back to 2x) otherwise your broker will automatically liquidate half of your position.
http://www.finra.org/investors/day-trading-margin-requiremen...