Margin accounts are like a loan from your broker. You use your broker’s money to make investments in stocks but if the stock falls below what it was purchased for you must put more of your own money in to match the deficit. 

Most margin accounts require a minimum of $2,000 deposit. After this deposit you can borrow up to 50% of the purchase price of a stock. You don’t have to borrow 50% you can borrow anywhere between 10-50%. The original deposit is known as the minimum margin. You can open a margin account independent of other investment accounts or combine the two. 

An important thing to know about margin accounts is that any profit will go towards the loan you took from your broker. You will not earn any money on benefiting investments until this loan is paid off. Additionally like any loan, there is interest to pay. You should have a strong investment stock before choosing a margin account or you could lose out completely. 


Check more about financial services in Cyprus and other relevant posts for Check Discounting, Margin Accounts and Cyprus Loans .

Margin accounts are primarily used on short term investments as the longer you borrow the money the more interest you will have to pay making it more difficult to get your original investment back. 
Individual retirement accounts do not qualify for margin accounts but some 401Ks do. Check with your broker or employer to find out whether your 401k will apply. 

Restrictions apply on which stocks can be bought with margin accounts. Notably the federal regulations state that margin accounts cannot be used for penny stocks because of the great risks associated with them. Your individual broker may also have their own guidelines as to which stocks will qualify you for a margin account with them. 

The initial implementation of margin accounts was to avoid market crashes. When people go into panic sell mode, margin accounts allow investors to buy the stocks at a lower price without having the funds readily available. For example if bad press or a product recall sent a business such as Verizon’s stock shooting down it would be a good time to buy as more than likely such a staple stock will most likely come up again, only you had the benefit of buying it at the lower price. Having margin accounts gives you that extra leeway to benefit from market fluctuations. 

Margin accounts should be used for short term investments and you should only borrow as much as you can afford to pay back. You can find more information for Margin accounts on tjthe  article written by Ellinas Finance Public Company Ltd.