it'd be nice to have a column in TWS that shows my margin requirement for each position.
TWS margin requirement column
- Thread starter ScroogeMcDuck
- Start date
I think he means initial margin requirements such as this
https://www1.interactivebrokers.com...ag=United States&ib_entity=hk&ln=&b=FTP&e=GBO
Each position has a drop down menu thing that shows what the effect on your margins would be if you closed the position. I just want to show that in columns (one for maintenance margin, one for initial margin)
It’s also worth noting that the marginal margin requirement can be different than the average margin. For example, if you hold $100k and the margin impact to close is $30k, that’s a 30% average margin requirement. But it might be the case, due to concentration or liquidity factors IB also uses, that if you wanted to buy an extra $1000 (or similarly sell) that would require $500 in margin, or a 50% marginal margin requirement. Maybe what happened was it was 15% initially and ramped up incrementally to 50% as you bought (but possibly didn’t notice) and that’s how the average is 30%.
If you keep buying enough, the average margin requirement ends up at 100% eventually, which means, I suspect, it could be over 100% marginal in some edge cases.
either way, if you care about margin requirements, you should probably also care about the marginal margin requirement. There are things I’d hold at 15% and not at 50%, which means sometimes I can buy some, but not very much, at IB before it stops making sense.
If you keep buying enough, the average margin requirement ends up at 100% eventually, which means, I suspect, it could be over 100% marginal in some edge cases.
either way, if you care about margin requirements, you should probably also care about the marginal margin requirement. There are things I’d hold at 15% and not at 50%, which means sometimes I can buy some, but not very much, at IB before it stops making sense.
ok, so we want 4 columns: initial margin, maintenance margin, and their first derivatives.
Open "What If" window, it will ask to prepopulate with portfolio positions. Press Yes.
Then open last tab on the right "Margins Sensivity"
It shows margins for every position you hold.