@Robert Morse By what time exactly does an FCM need to post collateral with CME Clearing in case of a customer who only day-trades? The so-called "day-trading margins" are set at the discretion of an FCM. Now, if a client has closed all positions, say, 5 minutes before the end of day, has any collateral got to be transferred to CME Clearing for that client?
CFTC, CME and ICE and(repeating Chicago gossip) - it would exist already, but they don't want it. Welcome to monopoly clearing.
In case of day-trading futures, can you be in a position where at the end of each day: - no funds in Commodities Account - a tiny portion in Securities Account - majority in FDIC-insured bank account? I tried asking them, but could not even send an enquiry via their website ("unknown problem occurred").
I do not know. Your question seems to be, if you have a Universal Account where the Broker is protected against losses from funds in a Securities account, can you trade future and have BP to trade with and journal money to cover losses before files are sent to the exchanges, say 4:15pm ET, and hold no positions at end of session? If I were the FCM/Broker, I would not do that unless I have systems in place, it was allowed by the exchanges, it was allowed by regulators, somebody signed a personal guarantee and that person had material assets or the entity trading had a material balance sheet.
Not sure, my situation is entirely different since I always keep at least 80% of my capital in cash for my risk mgmt. The answers you seek may be found in these links: I forgot to mention interest is paid only on settled cash >$10k & the interest paid is significantly greater on balances >$100k. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=27462 https://interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1595 https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/am/am/manageaccount/excessfundssweep.htm