CME Raises Margins on Gold, Silver and Copper Contracts

The CME raised margins for gold, silver and copper contracts today.  21% for gold, 16% for silver and 18% for copper futures.

This leaves roughly 8:1 leverage for silver futures and 20:1 leverage for gold futures. This should help control volatility and may also help in providing the world with a stable landing zone of precious metals support. 


COMEX 5000 silver futures (Tier 1) maintenance margins since 2009 (in USD per contract).

EFFECTIVE-DATE  INITIAL  MAINTENANCE  ABSOLUTE MARGIN(Initial)   ABSOLUTE-MARGIN(Maintenance)
26/09/11          $24,975.00          $18,500.00               16.15%                      11.96%
09/05/11          $21,600.00          $16,000.00               13.97%                      10.35%
05/05/11          $18,900.00          $14,000.00               12.22%                      9.05%
03/05/11          $16,200.00          $12,000.00               10.48%                      7.76%
29/04/11          $14,513.00          $10,750.00               9.38%                       6.95%
26/04/11          $12,825.00          $9,500.00                8.29%                       6.14%
25/03/11          $11,745.00          $8,700.00                7.59%                       5.63%
21/01/11          $11,138.00          $8,250.00                7.20%                       5.33%
17/12/10          $10,463.00          $7,750.00                6.77%                       5.01%
16/11/10           $9,788.00          $7,250.00                6.33%                       4.69%
11/11/10           $8,775.00          $6,500.00                5.67%                       4.20%
01/10/10           $6,750.00          $5,000.00                4.36%                       3.23%
07/06/10           $6,750.00          $5,000.00                4.36%                       3.23%
30/04/10           $5,738.00          $4,250.00                3.71%                       2.75%
02/03/10           $6,750.00          $5,000.00                4.36%                       3.23%
12/02/10           $6,750.00          $5,000.00                4.36%                       3.23%
15/12/09           $6,075.00          $4,500.00                3.93%                       2.91%
21/08/09           $5,400.00          $4,000.00                3.49%                       2.59%
26/06/09           $8,100.00          $6,000.00                5.24%                       3.88%
28/05/09           $9,450.00          $7,000.00                6.11%                       4.53%
22/01/09           $8,100.00          $6,000.00                5.24%                       3.88%
08/01/09           $8,640.00          $6,400.00                5.59%                       4.14%