What a load of crap. If you think a 10% margin requirement in a 4% daily move environment is too much, you have some serious thinking to do. If during overnight trading the thing collapses 7% on only 5% margin requirement on a full margin use, you would be complaining the next day that the liquidated too late and you have a 2% deficit on your account. People complain too much without understanding the risks... PS. I did get a notice of increased margin reqs.
Has any broker ever done 1:1 margin to notional value for CME index futures? That will take out a lot of traders. Bet many who swing 10 contracts on the e-mini index's don't have nearly as much cash as the notional value will imply.
I don't trade with stops at all... but you're missing the point. Circuit breaker starts at the open... if you start your trade below the open... say you buy at -3% and the breaker hits at 5%... or during normal hrs at 7%... you don't get out... it can drop to the next level and you're still not out... then you'd have to be liquidated at the next level if that's possible. If for any reason your broker does not automatically liquidate... you might get liquidated even lower at negative balance. In general, people complaining about margin requirements being too high are just whining.
A little history lesson. Every time index futures have hit limit down in the last 17 years they bounced greatly once the exchanged reopened. Also if you are trading $500 margin and buy with ES down 3%, that leaves you 52 points or $2600 lost before it get to 5% limit down in ah. You will get stopped by risk automatically long before you get to negative $2600 on day trade margin trading. And if by some reason you don't then you are an idiot and should not be trading if you let it go $2600 per contract against you.
I'm not debating the idiot part... I totally agree. But the idea that people/your broker/the exchange/regulators will stop you out before you hit zero is not perse correct. Of course there are different scenarios, and different products... but for some reason it's usually the same type of small account size people complaining about the margin reqs. Those people also trade leveraged in VIX and related products... (we've all seen what can happen there). They trade uncovered options, usually short. They trade biotech... also sometimes short.... and sometimes margined. Those products are all less liquid and can break your account. So my point in general is, don't whinge about margin... if you think it's too much you probably shouldn't even be in that type of game.
I am currently trading YM intra day with 300pt stop loss. So my risk to stops is $1500, IB now want almost $10,000 intra day margin. I traded everyday through the 2008 volatility, never had a problem with any of my stops not getting filled. IB margin requirements are excessive and i dont think my trading style is excessively risky or that i am being a 'gunslinger' or i shouldnt be in this game.