What does the account require?
Read current collateral and account rules for the product and intended holding period. Identify who sets each requirement.
OPENRANGE / FUTURES MARGIN VERSUS TRADING RISKAllowed to open.
Allowed to open.
Not safe to lose.
A margin requirement answers a collateral question. It does not tell you the maximum a position can lose or how much risk is appropriate. Learn to keep those questions separate.
Public lesson preview · Private member curriculum · Education, not trade signals
What is futures margin?
Futures margin is collateral supporting contractual obligations, often called a performance bond. It is not a partial purchase of the underlying asset. Initial margin concerns opening a position; maintenance margin concerns the level required while holding it. Requirements can change, and broker requirements may differ.
Source check, September 26, 2026: CME: Margin—Know What’s Needed.
Do not assume an advertised intraday figure applies overnight, to another product or under all conditions. Read the current exchange and broker terms, including applicable deadlines and liquidation procedures. This page deliberately does not publish a supposedly permanent minimum deposit.
A made-up requirement is not a loss ceiling.
Imagine a fictional example where the stated collateral requirement is $100. Separately, actual entry and exit fills produce a $150 price loss, with $3 of total costs. The net loss is $153—not $100.
Did the $100 requirement cap the example’s loss?
No. Collateral and the realized result are different amounts. The invented requirement is not a quote or an account recommendation. Actual loss depends on the position and execution, not just the amount required to open it.
Nor is a planned stop a guarantee that an exit will fill at exactly that price. Gaps, liquidity and order restrictions can produce a worse outcome or leave an exit unfilled. Futures losses can exceed deposited funds.
Keep the financial questions visible instead of treating a platform’s available-contract count as a suggested quantity.
Three questions, three separate checks.
What does the exercise plan?
Calculate from distance, contract value, quantity and stated costs. Include a slippage assumption without mistaking it for a guaranteed bound.
What could actually happen?
Consider the limitations of exits and execution. A calculation from supplied assumptions is not a full assessment of possible loss.
Start with these distinctions before comparing providers or opening an account. OPENRANGE teaches them through supplied examples; it does not determine what you can afford to trade.
See why an activated exit may not be filled →TAKE THIS INTO THE ACADEMY
Understand leverage before admiring buying power.
The academy connects the contract multiplier, planned loss and execution uncertainty. Learn why a low advertised margin number cannot replace those checks.
- Explain collateral versus price-movement exposure.
- Distinguish initial and maintenance terminology.
- Recognize that a stop and allowance do not guarantee a loss cap.
Understand it.
Then practice it.
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Clear questions. Useful answers.
Does a lower margin requirement mean a lower-risk contract?
Not by itself. Compare the instrument, multiplier, quantity and behavior separately. A collateral policy does not rewrite the contract’s price sensitivity.
Will the broker always close the position before I lose more?
Do not rely on that assumption. Procedures, prices and execution conditions vary. Read actual terms; forced liquidation does not guarantee a particular price or a loss ceiling.
FROM ONE ANSWER TO A CONNECTED EDUCATIONKeep the question.
Keep the question.
Build the understanding.
See how this topic fits into foundations, guided practice and deeper study. Start with the part you can explain—not the one with the loudest promise.
Show me the complete academy →Course completion does not guarantee profits, evaluation success or readiness to trade real money.
FIND YOUR STARTING POINTBig ambition.
Big ambition.
A clear first step.
Explore the foundations, map out two weeks of study, or see how futures, risk and strategy connect.