Glossary

Margin Call

See Also:

Call: There are three meaning of the "Call" term. It could be:
1) An option contract giving the buyer the right but not the obligation to purchase a commodity or other asset or to enter into a long futures position;
2) a period at the opening and the close of some futures markets in which the price for each futures contract is established by auction;
3) the requirement that a financial instrument be returned to the issuer prior to maturity, with principal and accrued interest paid off upon return.

Margin: Margin is an amount of money deposited by both buyers and sellers of futures contracts and by sellers of options contracts to ensure performance of the terms of the contract (the making or taking delivery of the commodity or the cancellation of the position by a subsequent offsetting trade). Margin in commodities is not a down payment or partial payment on a purchase, as in securities, but rather a performance bond. There are two main types of Margin: initial margin and maintenance margin. Initial margin is the amount of margin required by the broker when a futures position is opened. Maintenance margin is an amount that must be maintained on deposit at all times. In situation when the equity in a customer's account drops to or below the level of maintenance margin because of adverse price movement, the broker must issue a margin call to restore the customer's equity to the initial level. Exchanges specify levels of initial margin and maintenance margin for each futures contract, but futures commission merchants may require their customers to post margin at higher levels than those specified by the exchange. Futures margin is determined by the SPAN margining system, which takes into account all positions in a customer's portfolio.

Broker: Broker is a company or individual that executes futures and options orders on behalf of financial and commercial institutions and/or the general public. A broker charges a fee or commission for executing buy or sell orders for a customer. In commodity futures trading, the term may refer to:
a) a Floor broker, a person who actually executes orders on the trading floor of an exchange;
b) an Account executive or associated person, the person who deals with customers in the offices of futures commission merchants;
c) the futures commission merchant.

Clearing Member: Clearing member is a member of an exchange clearinghouse responsible for the financial commitments of its customers (a member of clearing organisation). All trades of a non-clearing member must be registered, processed and eventually settled through a clearing member.

Clearinghouse: Clearinghouse is a corporation or separate division of a futures exchange that is responsible for settling trading accounts, collecting and maintaining margin monies, regulating delivery and reporting trade data. The clearinghouse becomes the buyer to each seller (and the seller to each buyer) and assumes responsibility for protecting buyers and sellers from financial loss by assuring performance on each contract.

Mini: Mini (e-Mini) refers to a futures contract that has a smaller contract size than an otherwise identical futures contract.

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