Quote from I Missed Boat:
True, although if someone goes through their capital contribution but is at least making money gross, the firm normally will not ask for anymore contribution.
The general rule they are(were?) using is that if a trader has a negative capital balance and he/she does not make $2000 gross(before commissions obviously) per month averaged over a timeframe of 3-6 months, that trader will be asked to put up an amount at least equal to the amount the trader is negative in his/her capital balance. The $2000 figure is what management claims it costs them per month to give a seat to a trader. So if you make $500 gross every month and have a negative balance, they'll be losing money on you since they can't collect the commissions you generated until you go positive again. The rules as we know it have changed. They simply aren't taking any chances on people who are not profitable to the firm as they have in the past. On the bright side, I hear that they may stick with the current core of traders that are there. Thus, there will be far fewer firings from here on out.