Didn't see another thread on this which surprised me. Most everyone must be aware of this. Just got the message from IB regarding eliminating intraday margins and requiring overnight margin amounts to trade. Wish they wouldn't do this. We're adults. We know how to handle this. It's not that volatile. The message: "IMPORTANT NOTICE regarding Intraday Margin In light of the market volatility and the continuing turmoil in financial services stocks, IB will eliminate intraday margin reductions. Commencing at 12:00 EST today (18:00 CET), contracts which utilize value-at-risk margin models such as SPAN, Eurex, or TIMS in the commodity sub-account will be margined using the same parameters as for overnight margin. Please note that it may take up to 45 minutes for the new margin requirements to be expressed in the TWS but traders may consult the account window in the Trader Work Station to see what the overnight margin will be. We expect that intraday margin reductions will remain suspended for subsequent trading sessions and we will make further announcements as market conditions develop. Regardless of the likelihood of large, rapid changes in market conditions, we recommend that traders examine their portfolios to consider their exposure under extreme-move scenarios. Interactive Brokers Risk Management"
I found the other thread now. It's here http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131740&highlight=IB+Margin