What is margin call?

Margin call is the term for when the equity on your account – the total capital you have deposited plus or minus any profits or losses – drops below your margin requirement. You can find both figures listed at the top of the IG platform.

At this point, your positions become at risk of being automatically closed in order to reduce the margin requirement on your account.

You can rectify the situation yourself in one of two ways: deposit enough funds to increase your equity above the margin requirement, or close positions to reduce it. Or if you need more advice, call our dedicated support team on 0800 409 6789 for information on what to do.

When will my positions be closed?

Standard trading accounts will be triggered for position closure when your equity drops beneath 50% of your margin requirement.

For professional accounts, there are typically four scenarios in which your positions will get automatically closed. However, we can’t always apply this protection and you shouldn’t rely on us doing so.

• If your equity drops beneath 50% of your margin requirement
• If you remain on margin call constantly for 24 hours
• If you are on margin call during periods of increased volatility, or periods when we anticipate increased volatility
• If you are on margin call going into the weekend. We’ll try to avoid having any accounts on margin call going into the weekend. So if your equity is below 100% of your margin requirement, your positions will be at an increased risk of being closed on a Friday evening.

Our margin requirements are subject to change. If they increase on one or more of your positions then your current equity may not be enough to keep positions open.

Finally, if you are a professional client, it is important to remember that we could close you out at any time when you are on margin call. It is your responsibility to have enough funds on your account to fully cover the margin requirement of your open positions.

Will I get notified?

There are two points at which we will aim to notify you that you are on margin call, before we start automatically closing positions.

*If your equity level moves below 75% multiple times on a single margin call, we won’t send you multiple notifications.

However, it is important to note that markets move fast, which may mean that we are unable to contact you before your positions get closed. If your equity drops from above 100% of margin to below 50% in less than five seconds, for instance, we will not be able to contact you.

What if I have activated collateral in my share dealing account?

Please keep in mind that you’ll only be able to use our collateral service if you have qualified for a professional account.

If you’re using the contents of your share portfolio as collateral to cover your margin requirements in your leveraged account, then we can allow equity to drop to -50% of your collateral level before we start closing positions. We can’t guarantee that level, though, so you may find positions are closed before or after your equity reaches -50%.

If you remain on margin call for 24 hours then positions will still be automatically closed, and your positions will still be at increased risk on a Friday.

It’s always important to remember that our margin policy is not a guarantee against your capital running into negative territory. For this reason, it’s important to use tools like guaranteed stops to ensure that your positions are closed at the level you specify. A guaranteed stop will incur a charge if it is triggered.

Find out more about risk management.