I realise this is far too late, but it’s the last thing on my to-do list so I’m including it for completeness. If it turns out to be accurate then at least we’ll have a record of it for future margin changes (if anybody is still here).
If you want to check your predicted NEW MARGIN LEVEL after the margin change, and your portfolio only contains stocks, use the calculator.
However, if your portfolio contains stocks and currencies, indexes, commodities, etc., then I think this technique might work:
- Open every stock position (ignore non-stocks) and make a note of the “margin” (this is the margin that is a value, not the two that are percentages
) - Sum all these margins to give BLOCKED FUNDS FOR STOCKS
- Calculate BLOCKED FUNDS - BLOCKED FUNDS FOR STOCKS to give BLOCKED FUNDS FOR NON-STOCKS
- Multiply BLOCKED FUNDS FOR STOCKS by 2.5 to give NEW BLOCKED FUNDS FOR STOCKS
- Add NEW BLOCKED FUNDS FOR STOCKS to BLOCKED FUNDS FOR NON-STOCKS to give NEW BLOCKED FUNDS
Now, to calculate your new MARGIN LEVEL, do the following:
If ACCOUNT VALUE is greater than (>) NEW BLOCKED FUNDS:
NEW MARGIN LEVEL = (ACCOUNT VALUE / (ACCOUNT VALUE + NEW BLOCKED FUNDS)) * 100 ("/" means “divided by”)
If ACCOUNT VALUE is less than or equal to (<=) NEW BLOCKED FUNDS:
NEW MARGIN LEVEL = ((ACCOUNT VALUE / NEW BLOCKED FUNDS) / 2) * 100
If you are uncomfortable with your NEW MARGIN LEVEL, then consider adding NEW FUNDS:
NEW ACCOUNT VALUE = ACCOUNT VALUE + NEW FUNDS
Then repeat the MARGIN LEVEL calculation above, using NEW ACCOUNT VALUE instead of ACCOUNT VALUE.
Please let me know if anybody does this calculation before the margin change and whether it worked!