Borrow Fee
A borrow fee is the cost of borrowing securities for a short sale, especially when shares are hard to borrow.
Margin requirement, borrow fee, margin interest, and security-eligibility terms used to evaluate leveraged trading risk.
Margin requirements, borrow costs, and eligibility rules determine whether a leveraged trade can be opened, maintained, financed, borrowed, or forced to close.
This section covers the constraints around a margin account: initial margin, maintenance margin, margin calls, margin interest, borrow fees, and non-marginable securities.
| Term | Main question | Practical risk |
|---|---|---|
| Initial margin | What equity or collateral is required to open the position? | Trade size may be too large for the account |
| Maintenance margin | What equity must remain after the position is open? | Price moves can trigger a margin call |
| Margin call | What action is required after equity falls below a requirement? | Broker may liquidate positions |
| Margin interest | What does the broker loan cost over time? | Financing cost can erode or reverse a trade result |
| Borrow fee | What does it cost to borrow securities for a short sale? | Hard-to-borrow costs can change quickly |
| Non-marginable securities | Which holdings cannot support margin borrowing? | Displayed buying power may be lower than expected |
Margin requirements are not a single universal number. Before relying on margin capacity, verify:
Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.
A borrow fee is the cost of borrowing securities for a short sale, especially when shares are hard to borrow.
Initial margin is the equity or collateral required before a leveraged securities, futures, or derivatives position can be opened.
Maintenance margin is the equity or collateral that must remain in a margin account or leveraged position after it is opened.
A margin call is a broker or clearing demand to add equity, reduce exposure, or face liquidation after margin requirements are not met.
Margin interest is the financing cost charged on money borrowed from a broker in a margin account.
Non-marginable securities cannot be bought with margin borrowing or used fully as collateral for margin capacity.