Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Gordon Scott has been an active investor and technical analyst or 20+ years. He is a ...

A margin call occurs when the value of securities in a brokerage account falls below a certain level, known as the maintenance margin, requiring the account holder to deposit additional cash or ...

In a cash account, all trades must be settled in cash on the settlement date, which occurs two days after the trade date for most securities. A margin account, however, is quite different. If you ...

What is a maintenance margin? Maintenance margin, also known as variation margin, is the amount of capital that must be available in your account to keep a leveraged trade open. It ensures you always ...

Initial margin is the upfront collateral required before a trader can enter a margin position. It acts as a safety net for brokers, ensuring that the trader has enough skin in the game to cover ...

Also known as initial calls, this type of margin call occurs when an investor cannot meet the minimum margin requirement for a purchase as stipulated by Regulation T. This provision states that an ...

Volatility is back, and market swings can sometimes bring an uncomfortable surprise to investors: a margin call. When you buy stock on margin, your brokerage firm lends you cash, using assets in your ...

Maintenance margin, also known as variation margin, is the amount of capital that must be available in your account to keep a leveraged trade open. It ensures you always have enough money to fund the ...

A margin account is a brokerage account in which the broker lends the customer cash to purchase stocks or other financial ...