Overview

You're required to maintain a minimum amount of Margin available in your account, known as the maintenance margin. This means your Margin available balance must stay above $0 at all times. If this balance falls below $0, your account is considered under-margined and the brokerage may issue a margin call.

Positions in your other Wealthsimple accounts don't currently contribute to the margin available in your margin account.

The brokerage may liquidate your securities If

• you don't respond to a margin call by the deadline,
• your account has low equity, or
• extenuating market conditions exist.

If your account is in a margin call, you will receive an email with a deadline for resolving the margin call. You should resolve a margin call by market close on the deadline date. 

Account restrictions

Your account is restricted to closing positions until you comply with the margin call and your Margin available balance is above $0.

Margin call notification and deadline

A margin call notification is a snapshot of your account at a specific time. If the Margin available balance in your account is below $0 at the end of the trading day, you'll receive a margin call notification at 6 AM ET the next day.

A margin call notification includes

• the amount required*,
• a deadline, and
• different ways to fund your account.

You should resolve a margin call by market close on the deadline date.

How to respond to a margin call

To respond to a margin call, you must fund your account with the amount required to bring your margin available above $0.

Use one of the methods below to fund your account:

• Close limit buy orders in your margin account
• Sell securities in your margin account
• Transfer margin-eligible securities to your margin account from another Wealthsimple account
• INTERAC e-Transfer®
• Move funds from your Wealthsimple chequing account or other Wealthsimple trade accounts
• Make a deposit from your Visa or Mastercard debit card

You can also use the following methods to fund your account:

Note: These methods need extra time for the funds to settle in your account. Your account will remain in a margin call until the funds settle.

• Transfer an external account from another institution
• Make a deposit from a linked bank account
• Wire transfer

If you don't respond to a margin call

If you don't respond to a margin call, your account has minimal equity, or extenuating market conditions exist, the brokerage may liquidate securities in your account.

If the brokerage liquidates all of the positions in your account, and your account is still in a debit position (Margin available is below $0), your account is considered delinquent. You're required to resolve the debit before we remove the account restrictions.

Learn more about the Wealthsimple margin account

Check out the articles below:

• Key concepts and terms in a margin account
• Learn about fees and interest in your margin account
• Trade options in your margin account