Robert, 1. I tend not to sell puts or calls until I have a quadruple. The frequent exception is when I am in the money and expiration is nearing. I don't like the chaos around expiration, so I tend to roll down and out early when I am in the money. A change in the story can also make me cut profits short, but that is a rare occurence. I can't remember the last time I did that.
2. There are two factors here, initial margin and maintenance margin. Maintenance margin, which you are asking about, tends to be about half of initial margin. So, you have a security where the requirements are changed, maintenance margin is not likely to be violated unless the owner has a huge loss. We know that isn't the case with the internuts. The profit they have made, on paper, goes toward fulfilling the maintenance requirement. So, it is possible for higher maintenance margins to cause a sell-off, the internuts don't seem to be in that position.
MB |
