One thing to keep in mind when trading in a margin account, whether futures, stocks, indices or options, is that you are liable for all losses, not just what you have in your account. If you were short a ten-lot in beans today, you would be down $25,000, and unable to close the position as it closed locked limit. It wouldn't matter whether the brokerage wanted to cover your position and close you out. One more day of that and there goes your 50K net worth, which is why they want to make sure you can cover your losses, because if you can't, they have to. If I remember right, cattle had about 5 or 6 consecutive days locked limit down last year, and a two handle move in bonds, fairly common these days, is also $2000/contract, taking place lately in a few minutes after a report. Lately, the futures markets haven't been a friendly place for the undercapitalized. If you tell the truth on an application and then blow up, you may have recourse under the "know your customer rule" if you were allowed to overtrade. If you lied, you are stuck, and will be paying off the debt for a while.
Jessie
Jessie