7 days Pro+ free · no cardStart my free trial

Reconcile margin, collateral and account exposure

Work through inverse P&L, shared-equity stress, conditional collateral deposits, maintenance deductions and marginal collateral bands.

What you will practise

Build a unit-consistent account ledger, identify the assumptions behind its result and explain why it is not a live liquidation forecast.

Before you start

  • Distinguish position size, leverage and initial margin.
  • Calculate a linear position's price P&L and identify its settlement currency.

Course outline

  1. 1

    Inverse futures P&L: calculate profit and collateral value

    Calculate coin-settled futures P&L and account value in USD. Use a worked ledger to separate contract profit from the changing value of collateral.

    8 min
  2. 2

    Cross margin risk: stress several positions together

    Calculate joint position losses, maintenance margin and remaining account equity. Avoid assigning the same shared collateral to several positions twice.

    7 min
  3. 3

    Margin top-up: calculate eligible collateral after haircuts

    Work out how much collateral a hypothetical margin shortfall requires. Include eligibility factors, quantity increments and price changes before crediting.

    7 min
  4. 4

    Maintenance margin tiers: apply the rate and deduction

    Reconcile a progressive maintenance-margin schedule with its rate-minus-deduction formula. Test a tier boundary without inventing a sudden margin cliff.

    7 min
  5. 5

    Collateral haircuts: calculate tiered credit and liabilities

    Calculate recognized collateral across marginal tiers, then subtract liabilities. Distinguish market value from collateral credit and ineligible balances.

    7 min
Build a unit-consistent account ledger, identify the assumptions behind its result and explain why it is not a live liquidation forecast.Open full-size diagram
  1. Inverse futures P&L: calculate profit and collateral value
  2. Cross margin risk: stress several positions together
  3. Margin top-up: calculate eligible collateral after haircuts
  4. Maintenance margin tiers: apply the rate and deduction
  5. Collateral haircuts: calculate tiered credit and liabilities
Build a unit-consistent account ledger, identify the assumptions behind its result and explain why it is not a live liquidation forecast.

Educational material. Examples do not establish a profitable strategy. Trading costs, gaps and liquidation can produce losses beyond a planned stop.