Margin account question? (Scottrade, brokerage, fund, calls)

[Omaha8]

Ok so I decided to apply for margin thinking I new what I was doing but now I'm confused. I have all of my cash in my brokerage account in equities which is 30k. After I applied for the margin it says that Some of my equities are held in margin (25k) and the rest is held in cash. I'm just super confused how that works. And it says I only have 20 of margin buying power and $10 of non margin buying power. What does that mean?

Any insight would be helpful. I can be of detailed if needed.

[Lowexpectations]

You can have positions in both cash and margin within a margin account. If you have positions in cash there could be a couple of reasons 1. It's not marginable 2. It's an unsettled trade or 3. Your firms automatic margin sweep hasn't occurred yet

Your margin buying power is a function of your margin cash availability. Your buying power for more equities is more often 2x margin cash because if you buy 10,000.00 in stock, on margin you only have to pay for 50% of that for initial margin maintenance


If you wanted to post more detail I could do the same

[DPolo]

When my portfolio was making money I thought I knew what i was doing as well .

I also have a margin account, the interest on margin is high and will eat at your earnings. I would not recommend using margin, it's to expensive.

Don't use your margin, use your cash, unless you are a seasoned expert...

[Omaha8]

Is margin maintenance money that has to be liquid? Is margin included in margin maintenance?

Example: say my entire portfolio is $30,000 + $30,000 in margin for $60,000 total.

Say I invest $45,000 in a stock with 65% cash and 35% margin.

What would be my margin maintenance?

[Lowexpectations]

If you have positions on the cash side they should have no impact on the margin calculations


You have initial maintenance on each trade you place, then after that you min equity you have to obtain. Typically house calls start at 30% equity fed calls at 25%

[k81689]

google margin requirement scottrade
It has an example to explain it.

[Omaha8]

What is margin maintenance???

I know what it is but what does it include?

Say my total portfolio is 60,000. (My 30,000 + 30,000 on margin.

Say I buy one stock for 1000 with 50% initial margin (500 and 500 margin) and 25% margin maintenance.

ok what I need to know is if this is correct??

A. if this stock drops below 25% then I'll receive a margin call?

Does the margin maintenance have anything to do with the liquid cash I have in my account? Like do I have to keep at least 25% of the stocks purchase price in liquid cash in my account or does maintenance margin just strictly have to do with the position I bought and nothing to do with the liquid cash in my account??

I'm probably overthinking this.....

[Lowexpectations]

You are making a mess of this. Why are you running a cash side and a margin side within the same account? That's the main reason this is getting so confusing for you.

Initial maintence is something you have to meet at the time of purchase and then the overall equity level is something that is ongoing and usually if your equity falls to 30% you will have to take some action either deposit funds, deposit marginable securities or sell within your account. If you reach a call because you have dropped below 30% equity, say your call is 1000.00 you can deposit 1000 cash, 2000 in marginable securities or sell 3333.33 dollars worth of securities already in your account