While an extension of time to meet margin requirements may be available to customers under certain conditions, a customer does not have a right to the extension. Under Regulation T, the Fed has the authority to set initial margin requirements. This means that there must be sufficient equity in the account to cover the full current market value of the security. This process is automatic. Customers must request that the security be converted back to margin, and each security will be reviewed on an individual basis to determine whether it will be converted back to margin.
Firms have the authority to set their maintenance requirements higher than the required minimum.
The calculations are as follows. The available equity in the account is the equity minus the maintenance requirement. The available equity is called the excess equity. The excess equity for this account is calculated as follows. Trading Buying Power Day trading buying power is calculated by multiplying the excess equity times two.