Special Margin Requirements

Firstrade or Apex retains absolute discretion to determine whether, when and in what amounts will require additional collateral. In some situations, Apex may find it necessary to require a higher level of equity in your account. For example, Apex may require additional collateral if an account contains:

• Only one security or a large concentration of one or more securities; or
• Low-priced, thinly traded securities; or 
• Volatile securities; or if
• Some of your collateral is or becomes restricted or non-negotiable or non-marginable.  or Apex also may consider market conditions and your financial resources.

Higher margin requirements may apply to both long and short stock positions.  To review this list, please login to your Firstrade account, then click on Education > Margin Loans > Special Margin Requirements. 

The special margin requirement list is subject to change without prior notice and margin requirements may change without this list being updated. 

Note: If your account holds a concentrated stock position (a position that is 60% or greater than the total market value of the account), your margin maintenance requirement automatically increases to a 50% minimum. Although certain volatile securities may have a margin requirement greater than 50%.