Do futures settle T+3 days later like equities in a CASH account?

Discussion in 'Index Futures' started by Arjun1, Mar 24, 2011.

  1. Arjun1

    Arjun1

    Do futures settle T+3 days later like equities in a CASH account?

    I know that futures in cash accounts do not get intraday margins.
    And as far as I know cash accounts don't get margin calls.
    But what if a trader is short CL futures in a cash account and CL goes up 10% and the account is wiped out even without intraday margin?
     
  2. fanews

    fanews

    you've been on this site since 2008 and still paper trading.

    why do people paper trade.

    people who paper trade cause they don't have money to trade.

    they fact you ask this question means you should not be trading es, oil futures.




     
  3. Futures are not a deliverable security but a contract, matched and cleared eod at a one centralized clearinghouse. The last beancounter in the bulding does not go home till everyone is put to bed, and all funds are settled.

    There are only cash accunts, performance bond reaquirements are set by the exchanges for overnight positions, intraday positions are at the discretion of the broker as they their clearing members are guaranteeing your position and it is their ass on the line.

    A margin call can occur at anytime your position goes negative what your broker requires, they can liquidate while you still have positive equity, call more cash, or let it go negative account equity and try to collect if you blow up big. Whatever the case, funds are settled end of day by the clearinghouse, clearing members do not get a float.



     
  4. Arjun1

    Arjun1

    Ok thanks for the reply.
     
  5. "I know that futures in cash accounts do not get intraday margins. "

    "There are only cash accunts..."


    Where are you folks getting this information?

    Trading in futures may only be done in a margin account. This is Futures 101.
     
  6. There is no such thing as a margin account, ie. borrowed money, in futures, it is a performance bond! Go fish dude! A lot of it is semantics, brokers will refer to margin at a 5th grade level. Find the word margin on any exchange website, nfa or cftc material, as related to a futures trading.

     
  7. If you are referring to the account in which one trades futures, it is a margin account. You cannot trade futures in a cash account.

    If you are talking about the margin amount required to go long/short a futures contract, then that amount is a good faith deposit or performance bond.

    I'm not sure what you mean by semantics. Everything has a clear definition. It seems to be getting mixed up or simply incorrect in this thread.