System and method for activity based margining

Abstract

A system and method for factoring in a trader's trading activity into the margin requirements is disclosed. In the securities arena, day traders are assessed different margins than non-day-traders, however, the specific profile of the trader is analyzed (that is, the same rule applies to all day traders).

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of determining a margin requirement for a portfolio of positions on products traded on an exchange by a trader, the method comprising:
 determining, by at least one processor, a risk assessment based at least on a variance of recent activity of the trader from historical activity; and   calculating, by the at least one processor, a margin requirement based on the portfolio of products and the risk assessment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing, in a database, the historical activity of the trader on the exchange.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing, in a memory, the recent activity of the trader on the exchange.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the historical and recent activity relate to the portfolio of product positions of the trader. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring, by the at least one processor, the recent activity of the trader on the exchange during a predetermined time period.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the portfolio of products includes any positions at a close of a preceding trading period; and   setting the margin requirement to an initial margin requirement based on the portfolio of products, if the portfolio of products did not include any positions at the close of the preceding trading period.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the variance is indicative of a higher trading volume than the trading volume indicated by the historical activity. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the determining further comprises correlating the risk assessment with the recent activity based on at least one parameter selected from a group consisting of a range of potential price changes, a range of implied volatility, an intracommodity spread amount, an intercommodity spread amount, and a short option minimum amount. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the trader trades on behalf of a trading entity, the historical activity further including the activity of the trading entity. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the historical activity further comprises historical data associated with a plurality of trading entities, the data stored in a memory. 
     
     
         11 . A system for determining margin requirements for a portfolio of positions on products traded on an exchange by a trader, the system comprising:
 at least one processor configured to determine a risk assessment based at least on a variance of recent activity of the trader from historical activity, and calculate a margin requirement based on the portfolio of positions on products and the risk assessment.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the historical activity is stored in a database coupled with the processor. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the recent activity is stored in a memory coupled with the processor. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the historical and recent activity relates to the portfolio of product positions of the trader. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the at least one processor is further operative to monitor the recent activity of the trader. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to determine whether the portfolio includes any positions at a close of a preceding trading period, and set the margin requirement to an initial margin requirement based on the portfolio, if the portfolio did not include any positions at the close of the preceding trading period. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein recent activity is indicative of a higher trading volume than the trading volume indicated by the historical activity. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further operative to correlate the assessment of risk with the trading activity during a predetermined time period based on at least one parameter selected from a group consisting of a range of potential price changes, a range of implied volatility, an intracommodity spread amount, an intercommodity spread amount, and a short option minimum amount. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed are operable cause a system to determine a margin requirement for a portfolio of a trader on an exchange by:
 determining a risk assessment based at least on a variance of recent activity of the trader from historical activity; and   calculating a margin requirement based at least in part on the portfolio of products and the risk assessment.   
     
     
         20 . The medium of  claim 19 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause a system to determine a margin requirement by:
 determining whether the portfolio included any positions at a close of a preceding trading interval; and   setting the margin requirement to an initial margin requirement based on the portfolio, when the portfolio did not include any positions at the close of the preceding trading interval.