Tap any paragraph to write a margin note. Your notes collect in the Desk below the text and file under cases with @. The side-by-side margin rail opens on a larger screen.

Code · CFR · Title 17 — Commodity and Securities Exchanges · Part 31 — Leverage Transactions · § 31.18

§ 31.18. Margin calls.

365 words·~2 min read·/us/cfr/t17/s§ 31.18·

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(a)No leverage transaction merchant shall liquidate a leverage contract because of a margin deficiency without effecting personal contact with the leverage customer. If a leverage transaction merchant is unable to effect personal contact with a leverage customer, a telegram sent to the leverage customer at the address furnished by the customer to the leverage transaction merchant shall be sufficient contact.
(b)A leverage transaction merchant shall allow a leverage customer a reasonable time after contact is effected in which to respond to a margin call. Twenty-four hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, will be a reasonable time: Provided, however, That in the event the leverage customer's leverage account equity falls below 50 percent of aggregate minimum margin with respect to the leverage contracts therein, the leverage transaction merchant may liquidate sufficient contracts to restore minimum margin without prior notice: Provided, further, That the leverage customer must be notified of such liquidation within no more than 24 hours thereafter and must be permitted to re-establish his contract for a period of 5 business days at the then prevailing bid price in the case of a long leverage contract and at the then prevailing ask price in the case of a short leverage contract, without commissions, fees or other mark-ups or charges. If a termination charge was assessed by the leverage transaction merchant upon liquidation of a contract in accordance with the first proviso of this paragraph, such a charge must be rescinded upon re-establishment of the contract in accordance with the second proviso of this paragraph.
(c)A record of all margin calls, including all contacts with leverage customers and attempts to contact leverage customers with respect to such calls, shall be kept by the leverage transaction merchant in accordance with the provisions of § 31.14.
(d)Leverage contracts liquidated by a leverage transaction merchant because of a margin deficiency must be liquidated in declining order of loss, commencing with the leverage contract with the greatest loss. (Secs. 8a(5) and 19 of the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 12a(5) and 23 (1982)) \[49 FR 5540, Feb. 13, 1984, as amended at 50 FR 34, Jan. 2, 1985; 50 FR 36416, Sept. 6, 1985\]
Connectionstraces to 1
Citation graph
cites case law
§ 31.18
Margin calls.
Cites 1Cited by 0 across 0 sources
★   the supreme law of the land   ★
Don't Tread on Me
E Pluribus Unum — out of many, one

"If you don't know your rights, you don't have any."

Marginalia · a citizen's law index
A research desk, not legal advice. Always read the cited source before relying on a summary.
Questions or an issue? support@self-law.org
disclaimerMarginalia is a research index, not a law firm. Nothing on this site is legal, tax, or financial advice and no attorney–client relationship is formed by using it. Statutes, regulations, and case law change; summaries, search results, AI output, and member posts may be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. Any interpretation drawn from material on this site should be validated by a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before you act on it.