ES Margin Increase

[SailorG]

Has anyone seen ES overnight margin increase during fast moving market events like May 2010, Aug 2015, Brexit, etc? If so, by how much did margin increase? Did your broker close your positions, or did you have time to wire money? I'm particularly interested in IB, TradeStation, TOS policies.

Thank you!

 

[Rickshaw Man]

You need not worry about margin increase in ES while the VIX is under 20.

 

[algofy]

You need not worry about margin increase in ES while the VIX is under 20.

Unless trump gets NK or Russia to "push the button"

 

[SailorG]

Yes, fair enough with VIX under 20. My question is on a long term horizon. What can happen to margin requirements when the VIX goes above 20?

 

[algofy]

Yes, fair enough with VIX under 20. My question is on a long term horizon. What can happen to margin requirements when the VIX goes above 20?

And the vix could go back above 20 in a heartbeat.

 

[Robert Morse]

And the vix could go back above 20 in a heartbeat.

I wonder how many days in the last 5 years the front month VIX was over 20?

 

[Rickshaw Man]

Has anyone seen ES overnight margin increase during fast moving market events like May 2010, Aug 2015, Brexit, etc? If so, by how much did margin increase? Did your broker close your positions, or did you have time to wire money? I'm particularly interested in IB, TradeStation, TOS policies.

Thank you!

As long as your not levered up you will be ok. A good conservative rule for ES is 1 contract for every 10k in cash.

 

[Pilot550]

I wonder how many days in the last 5 years the front month VIX was over 20?

149 by my count.

 

[Robert Morse]

As long as your not levered up you will be ok. A good conservative rule for ES is 1 contract for every 10k in cash.

Funny, I know CTAs that trade up to 4 per $100k but when traders trade for their own account some use 25% of Span which is around 4 per $5k.

 

[algofy]

Funny, I know CTAs that trade up to 4 per $100k but when traders trade for their own account some use 25% of Span which is around 4 per $5k.

Actually 10% is the new 25%