The following examples show how position limits are set using the Max Position (net), Max Position per Contract and Max Long/Short settings on the Accounts | Limits tab.
If you want to limit a parent account and its child sub-accounts to 30 GE Calendar spreads, you can set the GE Maximum Long/Short (gross) field to 30. Within the Maximum Long/Short of 30, if you want to allow an outright or unhedged position of 5, you can set the GE Maximum Position (net) to 5. In addition, if you want to limit the position on any individual contract to 15, you can set the GE Maximum Position per contract to 15 as shown in the following table.
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity (Outrights) | Max Order Quantity (Spread/Strategy) | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per Contract | Max Long/Short |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GE | Future | Unlimited | Unlimited | 5 | 15 | 30 |
If an account or its child accounts have been used to buy 15 Mar19-Jun19 spreads and sell 15 Sep19-Dec19 spreads, it has reached its Maximum Long/Short (gross) position limit of 30. This is because the account is long 30 (15 Mar19 + 15 Dec19) for the GE and also short 30 (15 Jun + 15 Sep). Traders cannot place any more GE trades using this account until the account’s position has been reduced in one or more of the four contract months (i.e., a trader needs to sell Mar or Dec, and buy Jun or Sep, or a combination using this account).
Thew following examples show risk settings for ZB calendar spreads. For these examples, the following risk parameters are set:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity (Outrights) | Max Order Quantity (Spread/Strategy) | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZB | Future | 5 | 25 | 10 | 50 |
The account has the following position:
| Account | ZB Sep19 | ZB Dec19 | ZB Mar20 | ZB Jun20 | ZB Product level |
| ABCDEF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Action: Trader attempts to Buy 50 Sep19-Dec19 spreads using this account.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: Spread Order Quantity of 50 exceeds the Max Order Quantity for spreads of 25.
Action: Trader attempts to Buy 25 Sep19-Dec19 spreads using this account.
Result: The order is accepted.
Explanation: Spread Order Quantity of 25 does not exceed the Max Order Quantity for spreads of 25. The resulting Product-level position remains 0. The resulting contract-level position in all contracts is less than the Maximum Position (net) of 50.
| Action | ZB Sep19 | ZB Dec19 | ZB Mar20 | ZB Jun20 | ZB Product level |
| Current Position | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Order | 25 | -25 | |||
| Resulting Position | 25 | -25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Accept/Reject | A | A | A | A | A |
Action: Assuming the resulting position from Example 2, the trader attempts to Buy ten (10) Dec14 contracts using this account.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: The Order Quantity of 10 exceeds the Max Order Quantity for outrights of 5.
Thew following examples show risk settings for intra-product GE spreads. For these examples, the following risk parameters are set:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity (Outrights) | Max Order Quantity (Spread/Strategy) | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GE | Future | 50 | 500 | 100 | 1000 |
The account has the following position:
| Account | GE Sep19 | GE Dec19 | GE Mar20 | GE Jun20 | GE Product level |
| ABCDEF | 200 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Action: Trader attempts to Buy 500 Sep19-Dec19-Mar20 exchange-traded butterfly spreads.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: The order quantity of 500 is within the Max Order Quantity for spreads. Since the middle leg of the butterfly sells 2x the quantity of the other legs, the resulting position in Dec19 is beyond the Max Position limit per contract of 1000.
| Action | GE Sep19 | GE Dec19 | GE Mar20 | GE Jun20 | GE Product level |
| Current Position | 200 | -200 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Order | 500 | -1000 | 500 | ||
| Resulting Position | 700 | -1200 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Accept/Reject | A | R | A | A | A |
Action: Trader attempts to Buy 50 Sep19-Dec19-Mar20-Jun20 Eurodollar packs.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: The order quantity of 50 is within the Max Order Quantity for spreads. An order for a pack buys an equal number of contracts in four consecutive deliver months. It has the same effect at the product level as buying 4 outright contracts. The resulting product level position of long 200 exceeds the Maximum Position (net) limit of 100.
| Action | GE Sep19 | GE Dec19 | GE Mar20 | GE Jun20 | GE Product level |
| Current Position | 200 | -200 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Order | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | |
| Resulting Position | 250 | -150 | 50 | 50 | 200 |
| Accept/Reject | A | A | A | A | R |
Action: Trader attempts to Buy 50 Sep19-Dec19-Mar20 exchange-traded butterfly spreads.
Result: The order is accepted.
Explanation: The order passes all risk checks.
| Action | GE Sep19 | GE Dec19 | GE Mar20 | GE Jun20 | GE Product level |
| Current Position | 200 | -200 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Order | 50 | -100 | 50 | 0 | |
| Resulting Position | 250 | -300 | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Accept/Reject | A | A | A | A | A |
Interproduct Spreads work differently than calendar Spreads. For example, assume an account that does not belong to an account group has the following risk parameters and position:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per contract |
| GLB | Future | N/A | 6 | 12 |
| GE | Future | N/A | 10 | 20 |
| GLBGE | Spread | 11 | N/A | N/A |
Note: Limits marked "N/A" are ignored for interproduct spreads.
The account has the following position:
| Account | GLB Jun19 | GLB Jul19 | GLB Aug19 | GLB Sep19 | GLB Product level |
| ABCDEF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Account | GE Jun19 | GE Jul19 | GE Aug19 | GE Sep19 | GE Product level |
| ABCDEF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Action: Trader enters an order to Buy five (5) GLB Jun 15 - GE Jun 15 Spreads.
Result: The order is accepted.
Explanation: The order passes the Maximum Order Quantity check versus the GLBGE Spread limit of 11 in this case. It also passes the Maximum Position checks versus the Future and Spread position limits for each leg.
Given only the risk parameters below and no initial positions:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity | Maximum Position |
| GLBGE | Spread | 11 | N/A |
Action: Trader enters an order to Buy ten (10) GLB Jun 15 – GE Jun 15 Spreads.
Result: The order is accepted.
Explanation: The order passes the Maximum Order Quantity check for the GLBGE Spread. No Maximum Position checks are performed because no Future or Spread limits have been defined for the legs. The trader’s position in the GLBGE spread is unlimited.
Given the following risk parameters:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per contract |
| GLB | Future | N/A | 6 | 12 |
| GE | Future | N/A | 10 | 20 |
| GLBGE | Spread | 11 | N/A | N/A |
The account has the following position:
| Account | GLB Jun19 | GLB Jul19 | GLB Aug19 | GLB Sep19 | GLB Product level |
| ABCDEF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Account | GE Jun19 | GE Jul19 | GE Aug19 | GE Sep19 | GE Product level |
| ABCDEF | -5 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -6 |
Action: Trader enters an order to buy two (2) GLB Jun 19–GE Jun 19 Spreads.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: The order quantity check succeeds since the current order quantity is 2 and the Maximum Order Quantity for the GLBGE Spread is 11.
For the GE leg, the contract-level (i.e., Spread) Maximum Position check passes since the contract-level Worst Case Position (WCP) is Short 7 and the GE Maximum position limit per contract is 20. The Maximum position (net) check passes because WCP for the product is Short 8 and the Maximum Position (net) limit is 10.
For the GLB leg, the Maximum Position per contract check passes since the contract-level WCP is Long 7 and the GLB Maximum Position per contract limit is 12. However, the WCP for the product is Long 8, which exceeds the GLB Maximum Position (net) limit of 6. Therefore, the order is rejected.
While calendar spreads and other spreads that have equal numbers of buys and sells are position-neutral, those that do not have equal numbers of buys and sells are treated as outrights to the extent that they have a net long or short impact at the Product-level.
Given the risk parameters and position below:
| Product | Type | Max Order Quantity (Outrights) | Max Order Quantity (Spread/Strategy) | Maximum Position (Net) | Maximum Position per Contract | Max Long/Short |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES | Future | 10 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 30 |
The account has the following position:
| Account | ES Mar19 | ES Jun19 | ES Sep19 | ES Dec19 | ES Product level |
| ABCDEF | 10 | 10 | 0 | -10 | -6 |
Action: Trader enters an order to buy 15 Sep 19-Dec 19 Spreads with the account.
Result: The order is rejected.
Explanation: The maximum Long Product Position would be 35 (10 Mar19 + 10 Jun19 + 15 Sep 9) and the Max Long/Short is 30.