margin account mornitor tech

F: do not look at the leverage number

F: To help customers monitor margin deficiencies, TWS includes a Soft Edge margining utility, which displays color-coding on the Account Screen and pop-up warning messages to notify customers that they are approaching their margin limits. This feature allows you to take action, such as entering margin-reducing trades, to avoid having IB liquidate your positions. Soft Edge margining colors on the Account screen convey the following information at a glance:

* Yellow - You have only a 5% cushion above the margin requirement.

* Orange - Your margin cushion is depleted and you have a short time to enter into margin-reducing trades before IB begins to liquidate your positions. At this point you will not be able to enter into any trades that might increase your margin requirements.

* Red - IB will shortly start to liquidate positions as necessary to bring your account back within the margin limits.

F: two things you need to look at:

F: On a real-time basis, excess liquidity is checked to ensure that it's >=0. If it is negative, the account is subject to liquidation on a real-time basis.

F: At the end of each US trading day (15:50-16:00 ET), a Special Memorandum Account (SMA) is checked to ensure that it's > =0. If it is negative, the account is subject to liquidation.