Futures exchanges require a margin requirement that ensures their competitiveness and protects against default risk. This paper applies extreme value theory in computing unconditional optimal margin levels for a selection of stock index futures traded on European exchanges. The theoretical...

Investors can participate in the returns on the Standard and Poor's 500 composite index in a variety of ways, and these alternatives exist because they differ in important respects. This article assesses one dimension of these differences-margin requirements. ; Focusing on equity-related...

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System establishes initial margin requirements under Regulations T, U, and X. Recent margin loan increases, both in aggregate value and relative to market capitalization, have rekindled the debate about using margin requirements as an instrument to...