An RM call occurs when your margin equity falls below your maintenance requirement. If the equity in the account is decreasing due to market activity, it can trigger an RM call. Check your maintenance requirement in the ‘Assets’ > ’Risk Level’ page.
Let’s say you have $6,000 of cash in your margin account. To establish your first position, you decide to purchase 200 shares of XYZ stock at a price of $60 with $6,000 of cash and $6,000 of margin.
Assume that the maintenance requirement is 30%. This means your equity should be at least 30% of the market value in your account.
As we can see below, the Maintenance Requirement is constantly updated based on market price. If the stock price drops to $40, your Margin Equity is below the Maintenance Requirement by $400. You’ll receive a $400 RM call on the next trading day.
Note: An RM call will be based on 4 pm EST closing prices and the account holdings as of 8 pm EST. If your maintenance requirement exceeds your margin excess, an RM call will be active on your account the following trading day.
You can resolve an RM call in one of the following ways:
Continuing the example above, you have a $400 RM call in your account and the only position in your account is 200 shares of XYZ stock with a maintenance requirement of 30%.
To meet the RM call, you can either deposit $400 cash in the account, or liquidate $1,200 (3*$400) worth of XYZ stock.
The call will be removed 1-2 business days after the required action.