What is the Accounts window?
This window shows all pertinent account information.
- Equity provides the "floating" value of funds on the account, including profits and losses on open positions.
- Day P/L provides the profit and loss for the current trading session. This only includes the trading activity, not deposits and withdrawals. Day P/L resets at 5 p.m. EST (10 p.m. GMT).
After the P/L, there are several columns devoted to Margin. After the P/L, there are several columns devoted to Margin. Margin is the amount of funds you need as collateral in your account to maintain a position. This amount is shown in Trading Station in the Order Window under ‘amount’ before you even place a trade. You need to have that amount or more as Usable Margin to open a trade.
Usd Mr (Used Margin) - This is the margin deposit required to maintain existing positions. Liquidation will trigger if Equity falls to this amount.
Usbl Mr (Usable Margin) - This is the margin deposit available for opening new positions. All positions are automatically liquidated when this amount goes below zero.
You can also view Margin information as a percentage of your total Equity.
Usbl Mr % (Usable Margin Percentage) - is [Usbl MR] / [Equity] X 100%. As above, all positions are automatically liquidated when this amount goes below zero.
Gross P/L provides the total profit and loss for current open positions excluding commission and rollover.
MC (Margin Call) - The letters in the "MC" column denote the status of the margin call:
- "N" means there is sufficient Maintenance Margin.
- "W" means a Maintenance Margin Warning has been issued.
- "Y" means liquidation of positions due to insufficient margin.
Type informs the user of the account’s hedging capability.
- “Y” (Yes) - The account can hedge.
- “N” (No) - The account cannot hedge.
If your Usable Margin hits 0 at any time, all positions will be automatically liquidated. This is known as a Margin Call. It means you no longer have enough equity in your account to maintain the open position(s).