looks you are smart, we all morons. yes, I get several margin calls in the past, but I just ignored their warning. late I made big money.there is no single margin call I lost money. margin is just old style bucket shop's trick. so I switched to options. or I trade cash account, buy stocks. no margin requirements,I just buy call or put. higher leverage. my call/put often cut half even droped 80 to 90% of value, but finally they pay me high reward than I imagine. I bought 480 puts of AAPL at 1 this week, cut half last friday. when I turned on computer, I saw AAPL droped 20points. I know my 480 puts will be worth a lot more than I bought today. before the earning, I may get 10times of my premium. my timing skill is not so good. and it is not wise to time. market never runs in ideal ways. if you want to catch a break down or a break up, it may test several times, you never know which one is a true breakout. normally tested 2 to 3 times, if you try ecah time, and the market takes off in the 5th time, your odd becomes 20%. your broker likes to sqease you out using the margin call, if you like to buy breakout setup. the more you lose, or stopped out, cut loss, the more you want to trade, very common psych. that is stupid way to trade. sure to lose. NEVER USE MARGIN if you not morgate your house, you will never let a bank forclose you. that is what I am doing. no margin trading. yes, idiots will use margin.