Margin Call
The most dreaded term in futures trading is definitely “Margin Call”. A margin call is a “call” from your broker requiring you to top up cash into your account when your margin balance for your futures position drops below the maintenance margin level.
The additional amount of cash that is needed to bring your margin balance back up to the initial margin level from the maintenance margin level is known as the “Variation Margin”. This means that you will receive a margin call to deposit variation margin into your account to bring it back up to the initial margin level when the margin balance drops below maintenance margin.
