Futures with margin accounts
It is possible to setup FA to track futures and their margin accounts. The idea is to trade futures as regular securities and record daily variation margin change and purchase value adjustment transactions that debit/credit the margin account, realize profits and adjust the purchase value of the futures positions.
Getting started
Enable the link between block size and multipliers.
In Preference → Securities → Block size, enable both Block size affects multiplier and Block size affects multiplier 2. These settings are not enabled by default.
Enabling these helps with configuring, for example, index futures more easily because only the block size needs to be set and the multipliers are adjusted automatically.
Create a new security for your future position.
The default security type for futures in FA is Futures (F)
Set the block size according to the tick size. The system adjusts the multipliers accordingly.
Link the underlying security to your future security for price information (using Price from security).
Create the margin account as a bank account in the same portfolio as the future position and use the account category "Margin account".
Managing futures with margin accounts
To manage the futures with margin accounts, open and close the futures positions with buy and sell transactions and select "No account" for the transaction account. To mark the position to market or realize profits from closed positions, use the mark-to-market tool and do the following:
Set the fixing price in the tool or in a preconfigured market price field on the security. If you don't set the fixing price, the system uses the price from the Close 3 field.
In the Overview, right-click the portfolio with the futures positions, select Futures → Mark to market, and define the date.
Click Done.
(Optional) Define the FX rate and New unit price for the futures positions.
Click Create transactions.
The tool then generates the variation margin change and purchase value adjustment transactions.
Purchase value adjustment transaction adjusts the purchase value of the future and books the value as profit or loss. This transaction is hidden, meaning it is only visible in the Transactions view.
Variation margin change transaction debits or credits the margin account. This includes all profit and loss, including also the profit and loss from positions closed on the same day. This transaction is booked against the account with "Margin account" category and the same currency as the future.
After fixing, the difference between the new purchase value and futures market value is the unrealized P/L and is included in the market value of the portfolio.
Define the price source to use in mark to market transactions
If you want to use prices from another price field than Close 3, follow the steps below to adjust the setting:
Go to Tools → Administer → Futures.
Under Mark to market, select the price field you want to use.
Click Done. The new price field is now used for any mark to market transactions created after adjusting the setting.