Greetings all. I have "lurked" around this site for several montha now and how found it a great help in gaining many useful tips that will benefit my own trading. I am very intersted in trading N.Q contracts through I.B and was wondering if someone cpould give me an up to date figure on what the current minimum margin requirement is for these instuments. Is this figure consistent across the board for all brokers or is there somewhere i can get a reduced rate of margin maintanence. I live in Europe so it is important that any other brokers offer access to non U.S residents. Any advice on good posters/posts to read would also be appreciated
much has been discussed on IB and daytrading margins. (IB does not offer DT margin). Brokers who offer DT margin (typical 2000/ will also require at least 7500,10k to deposit) You can just trade higher number of contracts 3-4. I suggest you don't !!!!!!!!!!!!!! The exact amount escapes me and it can be changed by the exchange anyway, naz is ~5000, while SP500 mini is ~6000, dow is much cheaper. Where in Europe are you ? Good luck
check this link for margin requirements of cme futures: http://www.cme.com/httpwrapper.cfm?wrap=/wrappedpages/clearing/pbrates/PBISHomePage.htm good luck
Thanks for replying guys. Am I to assume from your reply's that in order to daytrade one N.Q contract I would be required to have at least 12000 thousand in my account? The impression I had was that nq's would offer a good alternative to single stocks as they delivered effective leverage of 6 times equity and thus one contract might require in the vicinity of 4500 to 5000(ie.1/6 of 800 *$34) . Also do you mean that I.B is not offering such a service or do they offer it but on terms different to that of six times equity. My main aim is to find a way of daytrading around 25 to 30 K preferably by using only around 5k and with the ability to trade the long and the short side while avoiding the draconian pattern day trader rules. Basically I feel forced into trading futures because of these new rules but believe that my method of analysis and trading will still work well trading the index as opposed to an individual stock. Any feedback would be appreciated.
IB charges the exchange minimum margin. So if the margin requirement is 4500 you will need 4500 dollars in the account to trade one future. 9000 to trade 2, etc.
Here's how you can do this: 1 ES = 500 SPY 1 NQ = 800 QQQ 1 YJ = 200 DIA With $4,313 you can trade 1 ES, which is valued at over $50k. With $5,250 you can daytrade 1 NQ, valued at over $27k. IB is offering both services and requiring only exchange minimum margin. Some brokers allow even lower daytrading margin. Fohat