Hey Guys, I'm new to trading and I am practicing trading options on the E-Mini S&P 500 futures contract on a paper account on ThinkorSwim. I just had a couple of quick questions on the margin requirements and options buying power. Right now my strategy is selling 1 or 2 contracts at a time on the weekly expiration and I guess I'm confused on what the margin requirements are typically on options on the ES and how do you determine the options buying power result of selling 1 contract? I don't plan on trading real money till I get a much better understanding of trading and can produce consistent results. Thank you for your help.
TOS makes that easy because with each order ticket, they tell you what the margin will be. In general, their margin requirement will be higher than what the exchange requires on short options. If you want to learn what the exchange requirement is for different positions, you can try the CME CORE margin calculator. I found it very difficult to use. You have to register to use it. http://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/cme-core-for-futures-and-options.html Bob