Initial Margin (IM) is the amount of collateral required to open a new position on Omni.
Your Initial Margin serves as a safety deposit that ensures you have sufficient funds to support the leverage of your trade.
Key Definition
Initial Margin is the collateral you must have available in your account to open a trade.
Omni performs a pre-trade margin check at the moment an order is placed. To successfully open a new position, your account must have sufficient available collateral to meet the Initial Margin requirement for that specific order.
This requirement is directly determined by the size and leverage of the new position.
Leverage & Initial Margin
The table below illustrates how the required Initial Margin changes based on the leverage selected for a position worth $100:
Leverage | Notional Position Value | Required Initial Margin | Maintenance Margin |
50x | $100 | $2 | $1 |
5x | $100 | $20 | $10 |
1x | $100 | $100 | $50 |
Generally speaking, your Initial Margin requirement will be double your Maintenance Margin requirement.
Decreasing the amount of leverage for a position increases the amount of initial margin needed. By selecting lower leverage, you commit more of your own collateral to the trade, which in turn lowers your risk of liquidation.
Initial Margin is a pre-trade requirement. Ensure your "Available To Trade” balance is sufficient to cover the Initial Margin of your intended trade before submission.