thats pretty gross
Can someone explain ES intraday margin to me?
- Thread starter howruhowruong
- Start date
Did you not see my post#4 .... "regardless of what session (or margin used) "?
Man, you did get your 10x. If you were trading 1 MES, that would have been $2.50 (minus fees)
1 tick for ES is $12.50 (and you made 2 ticks)
Think of it this way. As long as you have enough fund to meet the day trading margin (for example $500 per contract with AMP), you can buy up to your account value. So with $3000 account, you can buy up to 6 ES contract ($3000/$500). HOWEVER, once your account falls under $500, your account will be force liquidated and locked until you top up your account.
So suppose you bought 6 ES. As stated above, 1 tick is $12.50/tick or $50/point (1 point = 4 ticks). Hence, you would be risking $75/tick or $300/point. Now, knowing that you must maintain your day trading margin of $500, your MAXIMUM LOSS is $2500 (3000 - 500).
How much then can you lose?
$2500 / $300 = 8.33333
This means if you're trading 6 lots, you can only risk little over 8 points before blowing up.
Trade setup
Entered long @ 5568
Stop loss @ 5560
If you got stopped out, you're pretty much done at that point.
Which is why you always trade as if you are operating under initial margins, and NEVER the day-margin discounts. You live longer!
You might want to think about it this way: you are not alone in this game.
There is a logistic chain of other players in front of you and they all want to protect their backs. They do that by asking you for an in advance deposit that they'll use as a cushion in case you blow up.
Now, you can spend your whole life doing S&P 500 on $500 ( or E-Mini S&P 500 on $50 ) intraday margin and never touch either initial nor maintenance margins. Only thing you have to keep an eye on a watch and make sure you closed all your trading positions between 4:45 pm and 6 pm ET. That's the CME's maintenance time when they settle the books and check if any clients owe them any money.
There is a logistic chain of other players in front of you and they all want to protect their backs. They do that by asking you for an in advance deposit that they'll use as a cushion in case you blow up.
Now, you can spend your whole life doing S&P 500 on $500 ( or E-Mini S&P 500 on $50 ) intraday margin and never touch either initial nor maintenance margins. Only thing you have to keep an eye on a watch and make sure you closed all your trading positions between 4:45 pm and 6 pm ET. That's the CME's maintenance time when they settle the books and check if any clients owe them any money.
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I believe by now you should have got your answer but let me chime in anyway. I guess you think because of the margin you did not get the full profit. If that is the case, let me make it clear to you. If you had 100 million dollar cash in your account and traded that one contract ES, your profit would be the same as you calculated.The broker did not take away any part of your profit because of margin