Hello,
I have several questions about margin, in the context of let's say s&p500.

1) I read on Ampfutures that S&P500 Micro emini requires $40.00 DayTrade margin.
I asked to Interactive brokers and they said for this contract they require $452.25 intraday margin.
I guess it is the same margin: you need that sum in your account to take a trade you will sell intraday.
Question is: why this HUGE x10 difference between brokers?

2) On the official CME site:
https://www.cmegroup.com/education/frequently-asked-questions-micro-e-mini-equity-index-futures.html
it is said Initial $690 maintainance $630.
It's not the same as what various brokers require.
How can this be? Isn't margin requirements supposed to be set officially by the exchange? How can brokers set whatever margin they want?

Any vendor / broker provide free real time futures data ?


Thanks

The exchange sets "overnight" margin -- what's required if you hold a position past the close, into the next trading day.

Brokers are free to set any margin they like for day trades -- trades closed before the close.

It varies due to the different brokers' policies about risk.

Bob.

Currently (I just noticed) that Intraday Initial Margin for MES on IBKR is US$ 2529.

My guess is like yours: This is the minimum amount of money needed to take a trade with a MES contract. Am I right with this? Thx

Any vendor / broker provide free real time futures data ?


Thanks

Recent volatility has required most brokers to up their margins significantly. Before COVID, my Ninja Trader broker would require $50 intraday per MES contract. Lately, it changes in real time, but often the intraday margin is the initial margin, which is $1320 per MES contract. I have to keep a webpage open to check it, and I'll notice it will go to 2X the intraday ($100 per MES).

Funny thing I've noticed, my trading is better when I stay small. These restrictions have actually resulted in an improved performance. With today's volatility you can make $500 to $1000 per day with only 2-3 MES contracts with low risk. Just enter one, and don't add more until you can stay ahead of the trade, and often you need at least a 50 tick SL.



Stay small my friend.

Due to the extreme volatility persisting in the markets, our margins are currently on the following schedule until further notice:

2x (double) Intraday Margin
8:30 AM CST - 3:00 PM CST

Exchange Initial Margin
3:00 PM - 8:30 AM CST the following morning

In my opinion this is not as important as it might sound. If you’re undercapitalized they’re actually doing you a huge disfavor by letting you “daytrade” for cheap. Which by the way, has very low odds of success. But that’s not the point, the point is that there are plenty of other considerations when choosing a broker as well. First you should research the system you’re planning on trading for questions like : Max drawdown, percent profitable, account size required , and then, based on the performance of your system and you being appropriately capitalized to trade it, you could perhaps “safely” pick a cheap margin choice if you think your intraday system has high odds of success and will be using the cheap leverage.


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