Thank you Fohat.
That is exactly what I intend to do.
It seems though there is more to this stupid 25k rule than meets the eye- I still do not understand how one could generate a $19,000 margin call by simply dipping a couple of thousand below the 25k limit. After all the purpose of the margin call is to bring the account balance to the 25k limit. My account with Datek is well above that limit (30k plus), yet, they think another 9k is needed to meet the call and restore the margin status.