The "daily Call" From Option Alpha: Options Trading | Stock Options | Stock Trading | Trading Online

Hey everyone. This is Kirk here again from Option Alpha and welcome back to the daily call. Today, we are going to be talking about maintenance margin requirement basics and specifically talking about how they relate to trading stocks. We’ll cover in a future podcast some maintenance margin requirements and how margin works for options trading, but I wanted to get back to basics, so you guys have a building block and a foundation of understanding first how maintenance margin works for traditional stock purchases. When you actually open up a margin account and most brokers require now at least $2,000 to open up a margin account, what that does is that allows you then to buy stock on margin and it’s just a fancy way for brokers and investors to basically say, “Buy stock with the help of a loan.” Now, you don't have to do this and I definitely don't suggest necessarily that people do this because it can amplify the gains, but it can also amplify the losses. But when you buy stock on margin, you are basically put