Margin Question. How much buying power if holding all SPY in an account?

maybe this is simpler...

assuming Reg-T which is what you will get with $50K in equities in the account, what will be made available to you is a day trading buying power of four (4) times your maintenance margin excess...

assuming the broker does not set aside more for a concentrated position, you should have about $150K BP...

but like two other members stated already, just ask your broker.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

If you buy 50k worth of SPY, you will have 25k left to trade. If you max out your account and buy 100k worth of spy, that will take up 50k in cash and 50k in margin leaving you with no money to trade.
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incorrect.
on an intraday basis (4:1) you can have 200k of spy if you put up 50k in cash.

no clue why you keep repeating the wrong numbers.

see post above from oftthomas
 
Quote from zdreg:

incorrect.
on an intraday basis (4:1) you can have 200k of spy if you put up 50k in cash.

no clue why you keep repeating the wrong numbers.

see post above from oftthomas
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Wrong. He already is using 50k of that 200k in his long SPY position. That SPY position is a long term position. So when you take the 50k out, that leaves 150k from the original 200k. Re-read his post.
 
Easiest way I can describe what I am asking, imagine having a $50k daytrading margin account, with no cash & just $50k in SPY.

Even though there is no cash in the account, how much would a typical broker allow me to daytrade? And, would I have to pay margin interest when using that money to place trades that will be open & closed during the day with no overnight holds.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

Wrong. He already is using 50k of that 200k in his long SPY position. That SPY position is a long term position. So when you take the 50k out, that leaves 150k from the original 200k. Re-read his post.
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"Quote from Maverick74:

If you buy 50k worth of SPY, you will have 25k left to trade. If you max out your account and buy 100k worth of spy, that will take up 50k in cash and 50k in margin leaving you with no money to trade. "

your reply is not to my post on your comment and your comment above is incorrect.
 
Quote from zdreg:

"Quote from Maverick74:

If you buy 50k worth of SPY, you will have 25k left to trade. If you max out your account and buy 100k worth of spy, that will take up 50k in cash and 50k in margin leaving you with no money to trade. "

your reply is not to my post on your comment and your comment above is incorrect.
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If he has a 50k account he starts off with 200k in buying power for daytrading. But he is using 50k for his long spy position. From that, 25k comes out of cash and 25k out of margin leaving him with 150k. He can't possibly have 200k as you suggest as he is holding 50k worth of spys.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

If he has a 50k account he starts off with 200k in buying power for daytrading. But he is using 50k for his long spy position. From that, 25k comes out of cash and 25k out of margin leaving him with 150k. He can't possibly have 200k as you suggest as he is holding 50k worth of spys.
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the bottom line is that he can hold 200k worth of spys intraday.
 
Quote from zdreg:

I agree with your 1st sentence. however that is not what you said previously and your last sentence contradicts your 1st sentence.

the bottom line is that he can hold 200k worth of spys intraday.
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I was answering two different questions. One, if he was completely margining his position, and two if he was not. And he never asked if he could hold 200k of spy intra-day. He asked how much he could daytrade IF he held 50k worth of spy long term in which you responded 200k which is not correct. He has to get margined for the long term spy position.
 
This is actually a pretty simple question to answer. Assuming the SPY position carries a 25% maintenance requirement like at most brokers and clearing firms, your resulting day trading buying power would be $150K. This is assuming SPY has not moved at all from where you purchased it. If it closes at a higher price than where you bought it at, your day trading buying power at the start of the next business day would be higher. If it closes lower then your DTBP would be lower.

Day trading buying power is defined as four times your maintenance excess. You can always calculate it as follows:

Margin equity (in your case this is the the market value of your SPY position) minus the maintenance requirement of the position (25% or $12,500 for SPY) leaves you with a maintenance excess of $37,500. Four times your ME of $37,500 gives you $150K in day trading buying power. That can be used for intraday day trading only; not to hold additional positions with overnight. Which is what it sounds like you want to do anyway.

You should not be charged any margin interest for this overnight position.

What I listed is the industry standard. However, some brokers and clearing firms have more stringent requirements for margin accounts. Some like Optionshouse only give you 2:1 leverage for day trading buying power and not the full 4:1 as allowed by FINRA rules. So I would double check the above with your broker. Who is your broker BTW?
 
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