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 1800 601 734 for information on what to do.

When will my positions be closed?

For retail CFD accounts, if your account equity drops beneath 50% of the total margin required for all of your open CFD positions, we will close your positions as soon as market conditions allow in accordance with the applicable regulations.

For Pro Level 1 and 2 accounts, there are typically four scenarios in which your CFD positions may be automatically closed. However, we can’t always apply this protection and you shouldn’t rely on us doing so.

• If your account 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, regardless of whether you are a retail or Pro 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?

We are not under any obligation to keep you informed when you are on a margin call and it is your responsibility to ensure there are enough funds on your account at all times to cover your margin obligations. Any attempt to contact you will be as a courtesy only, and we cannot guarantee that we will contact you. However, if we do so, we may contact you by telephone, post, fax, email or text message.

It is important to note that markets can 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 and your positions will be at risk of being closed.

When your equity drops beneath	We will endeavour to
99% of margin	Send you a notification email
75% of margin	Send you a second notification email*
50% of margin	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.

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

Please keep in mind that you’ll only be able to use our collateral service if you have qualified for a Pro account. Pro Level 1 clients who have collateral enabled don’t get access to negative balance protection.

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 your CFD account 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.