If there is a standard requirement by law how can other brokers require less? how can there be a requirement by law in an unregulated area exist? I'm sure the last thing the broker cares about is their customers...if that were the case, there would be charity brokers with no commission costs. Probably they set higher margin requirements, so that customers still have room to rebound from their loses and still can keep their account live and pay commission costs instead of losing their money on the trade or completely inactivating their account.
It seems to me that overnight margin is regulated but intra day margin is unregulated. Firms seem to set what they like for intraday. IB use 1/2 of the overnight, some others firms use even less.
Typical doublespeak! 6 weeks ago, or thereabouts, the futures margin page clearly indicated a calculation for determining futures margin requirements. I didn't save it, but I'd wager someone on ET did! Now you say there is no calculation, but rather solely based on exchange and clearing firms. Well let's see, you own Timber Hill, the clearing firm. So while exchanges did adjust requirements, that has nothing to do with intraday margins, which is the unregulated area. Therefore it must have been Timber Hill, whom you own, that all but eliminated intraday margins in the recent past. And still, Timber Hill is overly cautious. Is Timber Hill having liquidity issues?
this is why i don't trade with ib anymore. i just keep the account around for some buy&hold stocks. i got tired of their constant changing of margin req, all with little or no notice. this has happened before and it'll happen again. while i never lost money because of it, it caused me to lose faith. why wait until one of their actions finally causes you to lose money? i decided to be proactive and moved my money to other brokers.
Exchange sets the rules for "overnight margin", which is really only at the time of the market close. Otherwise, the brokerage firms have discretion for "day-trading margin". However, it isn't just for "day"... it is for all other times besides at the time of market close. My broker, Mirus Futures, offers $500/contract for US markets, $1000/contract for Eurex at all times EXCEPT when the market closes.
joemiami wrote in Broker Reviews regarding Open E Cry: Ok, I'm new and stupid....I don't get it; IB and OEC don't give you data? What am I missing? And Ensign for charts? How many monitors are going at once to place a trade??? Charts are indicators/candles/volume right? Why all the extra gear over and above OEC? Thanks, scoreperfect
Blessed are the fuckwits I note that HSI margins are still up ... but why ... is IB stealing (lol) from the humble trader ... no, HSI daily ranges are 3x what they were a few months ago and intraday moves are 5x what they were. So IB are just protecting conservative traders from the business risk of overtrading fools. Those of you warm hearted low margin types out there - I am glad you are not with IB anymore. I thank my lucky stars. When we get a black monday 1987 event where the dow drops 25% in one day you'll see a lot of low margin businesses buried under their traders losses. Think about it. Friday was 366 points. If this monday was to follow the 1987 pattern then the monday drop will be nearly 3,500 points! I bet 90% of traders could lose money on a day like that and their losses will be something to behold. And low margin brokers will do little other than try to make margin calls for the next quarter. LOL. Wow ... what fun we shall have.
IB monitors your margin in real time. It takes IB less than 1 second to liquidate your positions. IB will still be able to liquidate your positions even HSI is more volatile now. HSI won't drop 1000 points in a matter of a few seconds. IB will not get into trouble even if the intraday margin stays at 50%. It is very safe to keep money in IB because, well, it is cruel and doesn't give you a second chance. (oh! In case if you don't understand, it doesn't make any margin calls)