Multiple accounts in IB, Will one margin impact the others?

Discussion in 'Options' started by cambridgesoho, Nov 17, 2018.

  1. I have three accounts in IB, one is highly leveraged, if this one get busted by margin call, will it impact the other two?
    Thanks
     
  2. d08

    d08

    As I was told by IB, maintenance margin is across all accounts, initial is per account.
     
  3. SumZero

    SumZero

    If I understand correctly what you said then is useless to have maintenance across all account because one won't be able to initiate the trade. What am I missing ?
     
  4. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    Are they all in the same name and SS#?
     
  5. d08

    d08

    Well, no. Typically you would have say initial 100/maintenance 100. Now if you have 3 accounts then it's 100/300 for that account if the 2 others are idle. It helps if you violate maintenance on that account. That's how I understand it but I haven't put it to practice.
     
    SumZero likes this.
  6. Yes same person, same SSN.

    Thanks

    The reason to have 3 acounts is to keep one aggressive/highly leveraged, in result it may get busted by margin call, but of course I don’t want the other get impacted.

    Thanks
     
  7. speedo

    speedo

    "Highly leveraged" means different things to different people but if any given trade is capable of triggering a margin call then it should be considered over-leveraged and thus too risky.
     
  8. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    At most brokers, a margin call under one account with the same owner would remove BP from the others.
     
  9. ETJ

    ETJ

    Not putting words into Robert's mouth, but traditionally if you try to shield liability through multiple ownership - it simply does pass muster, Robert is spot on. Especially U.S. Courts aren't naive. It's the cop who puts the house in the wife's name to shield his liability. Robert is spot on - the courts take these arrangements apart. Go find a friend with a LexisNexis subscription and you'll see these get blown apart. Traders used to try these kinds of structures on the trading floor without success. I confident some real clever attorney is going to find an off-shore solution, but it won't work in the form you outlined.
     
  10. qlai

    qlai

    What about personal and corporate accounts, where the Corp is fully owned by same person?
     
    #10     Nov 18, 2018