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S Illinois | Need and limiting the number of market participants that would participate.
Initial margin money can be compared to something sort of like a security deposit on an apartment. It only allows one to buy/sell a grain contract. After that every day one has to square their position up and will have to send money into their account or money will be credited to their account depending on how the market moves compared to their position. At all times they also must maintain the minimum margin amount on each contract. So no one can be underwater in their trading account from the CBOT's viewpoint. History has shown that the margin money level is enough to keep the market liquid without fear of market default.
The other is number of participants that would want to participate. The thought process usually is that if only the margin requirement is raised, then speculators would be less prone to move the market. That is true, but elevators/commercials are the largest trader and if they needed to tie up more in margin money, they would need to charge more for contracts. So instead of a HTA costing a few cents, it may become 10 cents. Straight cash sales may also incur a charge as normally futures positions are established at that time as back to back trades or swaps aren't normally done that quickly by elevators.
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