Futures & FOPs Margin Requirements
Futures and FOPs Margin Overview
US Futures and FOPs Margin Requirements
For residents of the United States trading futures and FOPs:
You are subjected to margin requirements.
The complete margin requirement details are listed in the sections below.
Futures Margin
Futures margin requirements are expressed in the currency of the traded product and can change frequently. A price scanning range is defined for each product by the respective clearing house.
Note that for commodities including futures and futures options, margin is the amount of cash a client must put up as collateral to support a futures contract. For securities, margin is the amount of cash a client borrows.
Margin requirements for futures are set by each exchange.
Margin Requirements
Information not available yet
Futures - Intraday Margin Requirements
Intraday Futures Margin and Futures Options Hours
The following table lists intraday margin requirements and hours for futures and futures options. Each day at 'Intraday End Time' the futures contract will revert back to the full overnight margin requirement until the 'Intraday Start Time' the next day. Margin requirements will always be applied at 100% for spread transactions. If an account holds futures, futures options for US products, or future and index options for European products on the same underlying, intraday margin does not apply.
Maintenance Margin Minimums
Futures:
50 USD /contract
Short Options:
50 USD/contract for 100 delta
units
25 USD/contract for 0 delta units
Minimums for deltas between 100 and 0 will be interpolated based on the above schedule. Eurex contracts always assume a delta of 100.
Initial Margin Minimums
125% of Maintenance Margin
Notes
- 4. The times listed in 'Intraday Start Time' and 'Intraday End Time' columns are shown in local exchange time.
Risk Margin Overview
What is risk based margining?
A risk based margin system evaluates your portfolio to set your margin requirements. The risk valuations of your positions are created using simulated market movements that anticipate possible outcomes. As a result, a more accurate margin model is created, allowing the investor to increase their leverage.
How are correlated risks offset?
Within a group of positions with the same underlying, 100% of the gain at any one valuation point is allowed to offset another positions loss at the same valuation point.
Example: An account holds a long stock position in stock ABC and a long put option contract in ABC. If a theoretical worst case scenario causes the underlying asset to drop 15%, then the loss that on the long stock position would be offset by the gain on the long put position.
What are my eligibility requirements?
Eligibility requirements vary according to the investor’s personal information, region, and exchange.
What positions are eligible?
All positions in margin equity securities (including foreign equity securities and options on foreign equity securities, listed options on an equity security or index of equity securities, security futures products, unlisted derivatives on an equity security or index of equity securities, warrants on an equity security or index of equity securities, broad-based index futures, and options on broad-based index futures.
Additional US Margin Requirements
For Residents of the United States:
Use the following links to view other margin requirements:
You can change your location setting by clicking here
Further Reading
See the following special articles and links, which describe important information on futures/options risk management and financial controls:
To learn more about trading on margin, go to our Education Center:
GoDisclosures
- Cash accounts and IRA accounts (both cash and margin type) are not afforded intraday margin rates.
- Long positions only.
- Margin requirements for HHI.HK futures positions larger than 1,000 contracts on HKFE are double the normal HHI.HK margin requirements.
- If you are not an India resident, you need to have Non Resident Indian ("NRI") status in order to trade India derivatives.
- Interactive Brokers Australia currently offers margin lending to all clients EXCEPT Self- managed Superannuation Fund account holders ("SMSF"). Click here for more information. For clients of Interactive Brokers Australia who are classified as retail, margin loans will be capped at AUD 50,000 (subject to change in IBKR Australia’s sole discretion). Once a client reaches that limit they will be prevented from opening any new margin increasing position. However, how much a client can borrow depends on a number of factors, including: the value of the money or assets contributed by the client as security; which financial products the client chooses to invest in, as we lend different amounts for different products under our risk-based model; and the maintenance margin requirement for the client’s portfolio. Once a client reaches their borrowing limit they will be prevented from opening any new margin increasing position. Closing or margin-reducing trades will be allowed. Refer to this link for information regarding margin accounts offered by IBKR Australia.
