Why does no one talk about margin shortfall in MTF?
At what %shortfall is MTF margin-call triggered?
I didn’t even see this in Kotak/mStock website. They are just promoting the upside scenario .
Dhan has explained their system. It normally depends on the VAR and depends on the RMS also. It varies from broker to broker. I feel 2x times is the maximum total margin to get exposed to and be on a safer side. Though we can go upto 5x with various brokers also. Nothing is guaranteed in market😉
I’m with ICICI Direct & they’ve this concept of trigger price in case your position starts going against you.
If a long position drops below the trigger price, expect it to be squared off by the broker.
It makes life simple.
P.S. They also give you a dedicated “relationship manager”. You’ve a direct line to him/her. As mentioned earlier in this thread, ICICI Direct has nailed the “service” aspect.
What is this trigger price?
Let say, I have 100 and Kotak allows me 5x, that is 500
If my position goes 10% against me, ie. 500 becomes 450, my initial investment goes down 50%, ie. my 100 becomes 50. In this scenario when will be the margin call triggered - at what %fall?
Guys, I am new to investing and I have a small doubt, please bear with me if its silly since I very recently discovered MTF.
I have had 25% returns since past 1 year, so I would like to avail some margin to trade.
My question is how do we pay this interest? Do we have to pay additional money every month/quarter/year similar to Zerodha LAS (Loan Against Security)
Or
Does it get automatically deducted from our margin capital?
For example, I have 25L and would love to trade with 1cr instead. But servicing the 75L loan’s interest via cash can cause me liquidity issues.
It will be helpful to hear your thoughts 
There could be a write up on ICICI direct about how they calculate this. I haven’t made an effort to read about it since it doesn’t matter.
They clearly display the trigger price against every position, so you know when THEY are likely to square off IF YOU DONT.
That’s all I need to know as a trader.
I don’t know about other brokers, with ICICI they deduct MTF interest from your account cash balance.
If you run into negative, you can either sell a part of your open position or add more cash to your account.
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If you are new, Would suggest to keep MTF aside for few years. Experience a full cycle from bull to bear to sideways. Then u can plan. 1 crore u can trade , but if your portfolio falls by 5% , 20% of your actual capital will be gone. Try to manage risk. If you are confident, then try it.
To answer your question: Its a simple interest charged and calculated on daily basis. Depends on broker rules.
MTF looks attractive, but its a double edged sword like all leveraged instruments.
Trigger price or liquidation price is exactly what I am looking for.
Is there a way to see the list of securities available for margin trading on icici direct without creating an account first?
For example, there are a couple of ETFs where I would like to have 1:1.5 leverage. Can I know about those in advance? I tried searching but I can’t see the list unlike dhan/mstock/kotak
Yeah as others have said margin trading is a double-edged sword.
Risk management is top priority here.
1.3x to 1.5x margin feels much safer to me.
not even 2x as we have seen markets with more than 50% as max drawdown
Anyway, I’ve tried Dhan/mstock
dhan:
- A high interest rate seems to take away the edge you get with margin trading with relatively safe scrips.
- Has a good list of srips for mtf & pledging.
- a rich app with good features.
- Can trade directly on tradingView (love this)
mstock:
- low interest rate
- There are fewer scrips compared to Dhan.
- they hardly explain the maintenance margin & have sparse documentation on margin calls.
- inferior app/ui-ux experience
If you share the etf names, I’ll tell you right away about the leverage available on ICICI.
Another thing I’ve noticed on these forums is people staying away from ICICI because of the upfront 9,999 one time cost.
They’re somehow okay paying mStock 9.99 perpetually vs paying ICICI 9.69 + one time 10k.
9.69 vs 9.99 is a huge difference (according to me). Even if you add brokerage 0.07 it’s still not even close (if you trade SIZE).
Anyway, looking forward to those etf names. Let’s see what icici has on those.
Hi Om… Does ICICI maintains a seperate ledger for trading acct? I’ve heard that any trading acct related fund credit/debit is directly made into linked saving bank account… Can you pl confirm ?
By cash balance you mean saving account balance ? Also do they deduct interest daily/weekly??
Let’s say I have 1lakh rupees and I want to buy NiftyNext50 ETF (JrBees)
Assuming 20% downside, what is a safe margin multiple that I can buy without getting margin called?
Hello! I won’t be able to confirm the savings account query because I don’t have ANY bank account with ICICI. They’re just my broker.
That being said, everything is pretty straightforward. Just like you add money in zerodha for example, you add in ICICI direct and then debit happens from there.
Separate ledger is maintained and MTF interest is deducted DAILY.
Hope this helps!
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Thanks for launching this. Has been my goto place, right after I place an order and see how much I would have win to breakeven. 
However, it lies in a different tab.
Is it possible to simply show this in the Positions tab as well (maybe a user defined setting), so that I don’t have to do any kind of mental math and just focus on the trade.
On top of it, the positions tab itself is in a different tab, and there is no way to see how much I am in profit etc. on the chart.
These are just some features that are made for trading and made for traders. In my opinion, these are delta 4 experiences and should be prioritised in Indian trading platforms as well.
Having been a recent learner, and having watched lots of videos of foreign players trading the Nasdaq or the Spy use this thing called NinjaTrader & ThinkOrSwim and these features are like second nature to them. To add to it, they also offer automatic bracket order placement as soon as my limit order gets triggered. And to top that off, there are two Target profit orders placed, one 1 km away, and another 1.5km – the runner)
example:
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTESrMtAIPQ
Note: The trade above was placed right on the chart, with one left click and one right 
Are these, or anything similar to these, on the roadmap for Zerodha in the upcoming months?
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Thanks, I ended up opening an account.
Yep, If trading a significant amount, definitely even 9.99 vs 9.69 is a difference, not to mention if you pledge your shares for margin, then that rate is 12% in mstock, whereas 9.69 in icici direct.
I was looking for kotak alpha 50 etf which tracks nifty alpha 50 index.
The link you shared says it’s not available under MTF, but when you go for the trade, it is indeed available under MTF.
They also have pledge against gold etf’s.
Just need to check for the fine print with the costs before going any further.
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Hey man! Just wish to say THANK YOU!
I had never given ETFs any serious thought before today. Your comment made me do some basic research.
ICICI is offering upto 4.44x leverage on ETFs and man initial research looks extremely promising wrt potential gains using MTF.
Going to dig deeper into ETFs this weekend!
Urging everyone to explore (ETF with MTF) combo and see if it suits you!
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