Can I get a Margin call if I have no free margin?
No. Your free margin can become a negative figure. Your trades will stay open until your available EQUITY level (also indicated in the MT4 terminal) falls to 20% or less of the required margin to open the trades. If you see the previous example in this FAQ, the trade opened with a margin requirement of $70.89 would not be subject to a margin call unless the account equity falls to $14.18 or less.
This was Pepperstones reply:
The best place to find information on our product offerings and margin information is called the PDS and is available at the bottom of each page of our website, as well as during the application process. Section 15.8 details the margin stop out levels for MT4 and cTrader:
15.8 Benchmark 7 - Margin Calls
Pepperstone operates a Margin Call and Margin Stop Out systems designed to prevent clients from
entering into negative balances on their trading accounts. The system is automated and will monitor
every client account while the forex markets are open. Margin is monitored as a percentage and
calculated as follows:
Equity / Margin = Margin Percentage
Each trading platform offers a different Margin Call and Stop Out system.
Metatrader 4
With Metatrader 4 should the Margin Percentage fall below 90% it will automatically trigger a Margin Call.
A Margin call is displayed to clients in two ways:
a) The trading platform will indicate the margin call by sending an internal email to the client’s trading
platform software and providing an audible announcement of the mail’s arrival.
b) The area of the trading platform that displays the clients’ balance and equity will flash red.
Should the Margin Percentage fall below 20% the trading platform will automatically trigger a Margin
Stop Out. This will begin to close open positions until the Margin Percentage rises above 20% again.
cTrader
cTrader does not currently have a Margin Call system built into the software. It is your responsibility to
monitor your margin through the trading platform.
The cTrader Stop Out system will activate at a Margin Percentage of 50% or below. At this point the
trading platform will automatically trigger a Margin Stop Out.
I think wherever the margin call is referred to on their website they should state the difference between which platform you are using. I felt it is unfair that one platform should have a different margin to another with the same company and asked several times why this is so and could not obtain any proper answer- sometimes thy would say it was their liquidity suppliers that set the margin and other times it was their management. Clearly they do not know themselves!
I HAVE NOT OBTAINED SATISFACTORY ANSWERS AND HAVE BEEN PASSED FROM ONE ADMIN CLERK TO ANOTHER WHICH IS TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL. IT IS INTERESTING VIEWING TO WATCH AN INTERVIEW OF OWEN KERR THE CEO WHO STATES THAT CUSTOMER CARE IS OF THE UPMOST IMPORTANTANCE AND ALL PROBLEMS AND COMPLAINTS ARE DEALT WITH IMMEDIATELY. I HAD TO WAIT SOMETIMES OVER A WEEK BETWEEN REPLIES- I HAVE RECEIVED 17 FROM THEM AND THERE AS BEEN OVER THAT TO THEM AS I HAD TO RE-REQUEST ANSWERS.
The video link: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...6f3WHrxa3rBBeayZnx_XQA&bvm=bv.108538919,d.ZWU
Plus the transcript of the video link: http://managementdisrupted.com/owen-kerr/
ON THEIR COMPLAINT INSTRUCTIONS IT SAYS ALL COMPLAINTS TO BE SENT TO OWEN KERR BUT WHEN I REQUESTED HIS CONTACT DETAILS I RECEIVED THIS REPLY:
Unfortunately, Owen is out of the office long-term at the moment and is not available - this admin@pepperstone.com inbox is our highest internal resolution point as it stands.
At this stage if you wanted to follow up this matter further, the next best step would be to follow our external dispute resolution in accordance with the PDS, section 24: https://pepperstone.com/legal/PepperstonePDS.pdf
Thank you.
Pepperstone Admin