Margin calls on leveraged products

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1

I see we now have access to a few leveraged EFTs.

Can anyone explain precisely how things will unfold when you fall into a negative position on one of these products?

I presume there will be a margin call like with a CFD?

Would you need to add additional free cash to cover the margin call or are other stock positions eligible ad collateral?

Can’t seem to find any official information on this subject.

2

You cannot be in a negative position on the leveraged ETF’s.
The worst case scenario is that the ETF share value falls to zero.

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3

Are you sure?

If say I invest £100 in the Nasdaq 3x ETF and the Nasdaq drops by 50% then my losses should be multiplied by 3 (i.e a drop of 150%). This makes sense as my £100 has halved in value but so has the £200 of leveraged capital that has been put into the trade.

This would put my position at -£50 by my reckoning.

I would owe the platform £50 should I close my position at this point.

Please explain as if I were a child if I’ve misunderstood this.

4

The etf is leveraged
You are not so no margin call
FT don’t provide a margin account.

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5

So given my above example where the underlying index drops by 50%, what would the value of my £100 investment be in that case?

6

You are investing in a leveraged ETF
It can only go to zero
Your own account is not using leverage
If the ETF manager sees it going to zero they will liquidate before it goes negative

7

@TradeRunner and @BlueSonic are right, in the case of a Leveraged ETF it is the fund manager who takes that risk. Your worst case is that the fund fails and your shares go to Zero

8

Thanks all, did some reading there and I understand it better now. Cheers