Actividad #2 – FI0155 –Margin system with futures contracts

On 01/19/2022 (January 19th), traders A and B traded one March’22 crude oil futures
contract at 86.96$/ba. Trader A went short and trader B went long, and they are both
speculators. Initial and maintenance margins for speculators on CME’s WTI crude oil
futures contract are $9,000/contract and $6,800/contract, respectively. Contract size is
1,000 barrels. Both traders carry their position until 02/01/2022 (February 1st), when they
offset it at the settle price and leave the market. Settle prices for the March’22 crude oil
futures contract between 01/19/2022 and 02/01/2022 are listed in the table below.

Equity in Equity in Equity in

Change
Settle Change account account account
in Daily Margin
price in price before after after
contract gain/loss call
($/bu) ($/bu) mark-to- mark-to- margin
value ($)
market market call
1/19/22 86.96
1/20/22 86.90
1/21/22 85.14
1/24/22 83.31
1/25/22 85.60
1/26/22 87.35
1/27/22 86.61
1/28/22 86.82
1/31/22 88.15
2/1/22 88.20

a. Fill out the table above for both traders (you will need two tables). You need to
calculate changes in price and in contract value, and then the values for equity in
account, daily gains/losses, margin calls and total amount invested for traders A and
B.

b. When they offset their positions on 02/01/2022, how much money do they still have
in their margin accounts? And how much money have they invested in their positions?
How much is the difference between these two amounts and what does it represent?

c. How can you figure out the total gain/loss of each trader just by looking at prices on
01/19/2022 and 02/01/2022?