Sorry to say this to such an experienced senior trader like you, but your posting above just proves that you don't know how RegT margin trading nowadays works, ie. in your times it seems to have been different than how it works nowadays. IB uses realtime/dynamic margin calculations. Don't ask me the details, I just make use of what is possible at IB; nothing more, nothing less.
Why should they do that? Sure, if I get a margin call then they will close some positions of mine until the margin requirement again is met. But that's normal procedure.
Well, what does dynamic margin exactly mean? Doesn't that mean that at some point they might think your positions carry too much risk?
It simply means that the margin requirement is re-calculated and adjusted every minute or so for all open short positions. It is not a static value. Ie. the margin requirement can rise, and can also fall due to changes in IV, underlying spot, current premium, time-decay etc. etc.
That's exactly what I mean. Margin requirements now might significantly differ from the ones 1 minute (or 1 day) from now.
Did I tell that I'm trading weeklys, but that my timeframe is 1 to 3 weeks?... Yes, I did, even many times!... Anybody still confused?