n. Day Trade Call (DT Call) US Options & Futures

Day Trade Call (DT Call)

Day trade calls are generated when a margin account exceeds its starting day trade buying power. Day trade calls are different from Equity Maintenance calls issued from being flagged as Pattern Day Trader. To learn about EM calls & pattern day trading instead, then please click here.

Why did I get a Day Trade Call?

A day trade call (DT) generates when a margin account exceeds its starting day trade buying power (SDTBP). You can view your starting day trade buying power by logging into your trading platform and locating the balances drop-down menu. For instructions on locating starting day trade power, then please click here.

SDTBP is derived by subtracting the margin requirement of all your positions from your account's margin equity. Furthermore, it represents your Options Buying Power at the close of business on the previous trading day. Generally, an account triggers a DT call when holding a position(s) overnight, closing the position(s) on the next trading day, and then immediately trading with the newly released buying power. Although you cannot day trade (open and close position within the same day) with newly released buying power, you may open new positions if you intend to hold them overnight.

When is a Day Trade call due?

It depends on whether you have any past due/outstanding calls

If there are not any open past-due day trade calls on the account, new day trade calls are typically due three business days after the trade date (T+3). If there are any open past-due DT calls on the account, any new DT calls are due one business day after the trade date (T+1).

Consequences

May result in a 90-Day Closing-only restriction

When an account doesn't have any day trade (DT) calls, they can re-use their starting day trade buying power throughout the day. For example, an account with $5,000 in SDTBP could place the following trades:

Buy $4,800 worth of calls.
Sell the calls.
Buy $4,000 worth of puts.
Sell the puts.

Since the day traded positions were not open at the same time, only the largest day trade is considered. Since $4,800 is <= the SDTBP, no DT call issues.

However, if an account has one or more open DT Calls, subsequent day trade calls calculate by adding the day trade requirements of ALL day trades. For example, the day trades from the example above would require $8,800 in SDTBP. As a result, if the account only had $5,000 in SDTBP, the account would receive another day trade call. Additionally, if an account has one or more open DT Calls, you will see a decrease in the SDTBP (Starting Day Trade Buying Power) on the following trade date.

Lastly, if two or more DT calls go past due without being met, a closing-only restriction is applied to all margin accounts for 90 calendar days. Please note that any DT calls generated in sub-margin accounts will add that mark to all margin accounts. The restriction can only be removed by meeting the combined total of all unmet DT calls on all margin accounts.

How to meet a DT Call

Typically, DT Calls are met with a deposit

Typically, a DT call must be met by depositing new funds in the amount of the call(s) or higher. The deposit must remain in the account for two full business days before being withdrawn. If an account does not meet a DT call, then the call will fall off the account 90 days after the due date.

Any funds withdrawn from an account while there is an open DT call will add to the amount of the call. For example, if you received a DT call for $3,000 and withdrew $4,000 from your account while the call was open, you would need to deposit $7,000 to meet the call.
If there is more than one open DT call on an account, but none are past due, funds deposited can apply to both calls. For example, if there is one open DT call for $1,500 and a second open DT call on the account for $3,200 (and neither is past due), then a deposit of $3,200 can meet both DT calls.
If there is more than one open DT call on an account and any of them are past due, all calls must be met to restore the account. For example, if there is one open DT call for $1,500 and a second open DT call on the account for $3,200 (and both are past due), then a deposit of $4,700 is required to meet both DT calls.
If only one DT call is past due, then you can meet the smaller one to avoid the "closing positions only" restriction caused by multiple DT calls.
If two or more DT calls are past due, then you must meet the total of all of them to remove the "closing positions only" restriction.
When holding multiple margin accounts, DT calls will be aggregated across all sub-margin accounts. To meet a DT call, a deposit can be made into any related sub-account to meet the aggregate DT call on all related accounts.

Meeting via liquidation

Under FINRA Rule 4210, an account may liquidate securities to satisfy a day trade (DT) call, but only the maintenance margin requirement of the liquidated securities will be released. However, FINRA discourages this practice and requires monitoring to ensure that this method of meeting day trade calls is not misused or overused.

DT calls can be met via liquidation up to 3 times in a rolling 12 month period.
In order to meet a DT call via liquidation, you must have open positions after the DT call is issued that will generate enough maintenance margin relief to fully meet the DT call. This means that the liquidation that triggered the day trade call cannot be applied when meeting the DT call. DT calls must be met with new funds or from positions existing on the account prior to the DT call.
Only the maintenance margin relief of liquidations can be applied to the DT Call.
All liquidations that are designated toward meeting a DT call must happen in the same day and the DT call must be met by the end of that day.
Liquidations across sub-margin accounts may be used to meet DT Calls.
The US Options and Futures' margin team must be informed (helpdesk.uk@ig.com) of a liquidation that is intended to meet a DT call before 2 PM CST (Chicago time) on the day of the liquidation(s).

Multiple Margin Accounts

When holding multiple related margin accounts, day trade calls will be triggered if day trading across all sub-accounts exceeds their combined starting day trade buying power. Additionally, a day trade call can be triggered if a day trade is placed while an account is under a PDT EM call. When a day trade call is triggered, any restrictions will apply across all sub-accounts until the DT call is met. You can meet a DT call by depositing funds into sub-accounts or by liquidating positions across sub-accounts.