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Butterflies and Condors vs IB
- Thread starter johnk49
- Start date
Quote from johnk49:
Just a quick question.I'm thinking of changing my broker to IB and I was wondering if you have to put up margin on both sides of these spreads,or is it treated as one?Can't seem to find info on their site.
Flys have been margined properly at IB for some time, but iron condors required margin on boths sides until recently. However, I was told a few weeks back that they were in the process of fixing their margin rules for condors, and may have done so by now. Contact Def to get clarification.
Quote from Hello_Dollars:
Flys have been margined properly at IB for some time, but iron condors required margin on boths sides until recently. However, I was told a few weeks back that they were in the process of fixing their margin rules for condors, and may have done so by now. Contact Def to get clarification.
I was told by IB that condor margining was now available - but not certain if they meant all contracts or ??? I haven't had condors on in a while so haven't been able to test ....
Yes, ask Def ...
Quote from johnk49:
Just a quick question.I'm thinking of changing my broker to IB and I was wondering if you have to put up margin on both sides of these spreads,or is it treated as one?Can't seem to find info on their site.
We just changed our margin handling rules for condors, you will only need to post margin for one side.
Quote from Steve_IB:
I'm talking about US stock and index options.
For most of the futures exchanges we use SPAN, I believe for Eurex we use their own portfolio margining system which is similar to SPAN.
Hi steve!
Thx for your answer...
Could you tell us whether the SPAN Margining system requires less margin than the CBOEs ruled-based system.
Let's say I want to sell a June Condor on the SPX with the following strikes:
LONG PUT 1050 SHORT PUT 1065
LONG CALL 1240 SHORT CALL 1225
My margin should be equal to the max.risk which is 15Points x 100$=1500$ (+option Premium),right?
In case I did the same with the CMEs Mini S&P 500 (ES) shouldn' t the margin be lower,because of other parameters (Scanning Range,volatility) the SPAN algorithm uses?
Thx
Generally speaking, SPAN margin should be less but it is really hard to compare. For ES June options portfolio that is very close to yours:
LONG PUT 1050 SHORT PUT 1070
LONG CALL 1240 SHORT CALL 1220
Initial margin is $743, maintenance is $594. Now, if we take care about different multipliers (50 for ES vs. 100 for SPX)â¦
LONG PUT 1050 SHORT PUT 1070
LONG CALL 1240 SHORT CALL 1220
Initial margin is $743, maintenance is $594. Now, if we take care about different multipliers (50 for ES vs. 100 for SPX)â¦