U.S. 2020 Election Margin Increase

In light of the potential market volatility associated with the upcoming United States presidential election,  Interactive Brokers will implement an increase in the margin requirement for all U.S. traded equity index futures and derivatives and Dow Jones Futures listed on the OSE.JPN exchange.

Clients holding a position in a U.S. equity index future and their derivatives and/or Down Jones Futures listed on the OSE.JPN exchange should expect the margin requirement to increase by approximately 35% above the normal margin requirement. The increase is scheduled to be implemented gradually over a 20-calendar day period with the maintenance margin increase starting on October 5, 2020 through October 30, 2020.

The table below provides examples of the margin increases projected for some of the more widely held products 

Future Symbol
Description Listing Exchange Trading Class Current Rate (Price scan range)* Projected Rate (Price scan range)
ES E-mini S&P 500 CME ES 7.13 9.63
YM MINI DJIA CBOT YM 6.14 8.29
RTY Russell 2000 CME RTY 6.79 9.17
NQ NASDAQ E-MINI CME NQ 6.57 8.87
DJIA OSE Dow Jones Industrial Average OSE.JPN DJIA 5.14 6.94

 *As of 10/2/20 open.

 

NOTE: IBKR's Risk Navigator can help you determine the impact the new maintenance margin requirements will have on your current portfolio or any other portfolio you would like to construct or test. For more information about the Alternative Margin Calculator feature, please see KB Article 2957: Risk Navigator: Alternative Margin Calculator and from the margin mode setting in Risk Navigator, select " US Election Margin".