Futures margin with options

[esculapius1975]

I would like to start trading with futures on stocks.
I was thinking of opening an account with IB.
My question is on margins on futures.

If i buy a future on a stock XYZ expiring in 6 months at a price of 100$
and at the same time
i buy a put option on the stock XYZ at strike price of 100$ expiring in 6 months

what will be the margin needed on my account?
If the price of XYZ falls to 50$ will the increasing value of the put option completely compensate the margin on the account or do I still need to have a large margin in place?

 

[Martinghoul]

The answer is... drum roll... it depends. On a whole variety of factors, actually.

 

[esculapius1975]

The answer is... drum roll... it depends. On a whole variety of factors, actually.

Hi Martinghoul,

Could you give a bit more details? Essentially provided the put option will gain value as long as the future goes down what can make the difference on the net balance of your account?

 

[Martinghoul]

Well, the problem is that much depends on the strike of the put and a variety of other variables. It's nearly impossible to generalize. Moreover, much depends on your broker (i.e. IB). You should speak to them and they might have some documentation on their procedures. Finally, much will depend on the exchange procedures, which sometimes are sort of proprietary.