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SECTION 220.12—Supplement: Margin Requirements

The required margin for each security position held in a margin account shall be as follows:
(a) Margin equity security, except for an exempted security, money market mutual fund or exempted-securities mutual fund, warrant on a securities index or foreign currency, or a long position in an option: 50 percent of the current market value of the security or the percentage set by the regulatory authority where the trade occurs, whichever is greater.
(b) Exempted security, nonequity security, money market mutual fund, or exempted securities mutual fund: the margin required by the creditor in good faith or the percentage set by the regulatory authority where the trade occurs, whichever is greater.
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(c) Short sale of a nonexempted security, except for a nonequity security:
(1) 150 percent of the current market value of the security, or
(2) 100 percent of the current market value if a security exchangeable or convertible within 90 calendar days without restriction other than the payment of money into the security sold short is held in the account, provided that any long call to be used as margin in connection with a short sale of the underlying security is an American-style option issued by a registered clearing corporation and listed or traded on a registered national securities exchange with an exercise price that does not exceed the price at which the underlying security was sold short.
(d) Short sale of an exempted security or nonequity security: 100 percent of the current market value of the security plus the margin required by the creditor in good faith.
(e) Nonmargin, nonexempted equity security: 100 percent of the current market value.
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(f) Put or call on a security, certificate of deposit, securities index or foreign currency, or a warrant on a securities index or foreign currency:
(1) in the case of puts and calls issued by a registered clearing corporation and listed or traded on a registered national securities exchange or a registered securities association and registered warrants on a securities index or foreign currency, the amount, or other position specified by the rules of the registered national securities exchange or the registered securities association authorized to trade the option or warrant, provided that all such rules have been approved or amended by the SEC; or
(2) in the case of all other puts and calls, the amount, or other position, specified by the maintenance rules of the creditor’s examining authority.

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