CONTENT HIGHLIGHT 7.1
What Is Margin?
Derivative contracts, such as futures and short
options, require brokers (i.e., the clearing members
of an exchange’s clearing house) and investors/speculators
to post initial margin, which
is usually a fixed dollar amount per contract
and represents a very small percent of the
overall value. Futures and option contracts are
agreements that are directly between a clearing
member (e.g., broker) and the clearinghouse.
As a result, there are separate margin
requirements for the broker relative to the
clearinghouse and for the customer relative to
the clearinghouse. The exchange sets minimum
customer margin requirements, but brokers are
allowed to charge customers amounts in excess
of this minimum. The minimum exchangeset
margin requirement depends on factors
such as price volatility (e.g., worst daily movement)
and general market liquidity.
Margin is not really a down payment on the
security as much as it is a performance bond
that ensures the broker and exchange that the
contract will be settled in due course. Initial
margin can be posted in cash or acceptable
security (e.g., cash, Treasury bonds, Treasury
notes, Treasury bills, and letters of credit), and it
is held by the broker in a customer-segregated
account. By law, brokers are required to hold
customer margin money in an account separate
from their operating funds.
Derivative contracts are repriced daily, with
the winners being paid from the losers’ margin
account. This process is called marking to market.
Margin accounts can be depleted by adverse
price fluctuations, so the exchange also
sets the maintenance margin level. If a margin
account falls below the exchange-determined
maintenance margin level, the customer must
replenish the margin account to the level set by
the initial margin requirement.
Marking to market ensures the contract
holder and the clearinghouse that sufficient
funds will be available to cover any loss resulting
from the change in price of the derivative
instrument. Assurances such as this are necessary
when you consider that the margin requirements
are as low as 5% of the contract’s
face value. If everything runs smoothly, the
clearinghouse should have a perfectly matched
book, with losers paying winners on a daily basis
from their margin accounts. As a result, counterparty
credit risk in this market should be very low.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, the Board of
Trade Clearing Corporation (BOTCC) calculates
margin requirements for both clearing
members and their customers twice per trading
day—once during the day and once at the
end of the day. Clearing members must meet
their end-of-the-day margin requirements by
6:40 A.M. on the following business day