How much money do I need for my margin account for Natural Gas?

Answer 1

That depends how many contracts you purchase.

Answer 2

The general rule of thumb is you should never invest more than 5% of the account equity on a trade. So, if the margin is $2000, you should have about $40,000 in the account.

Actually, the pro's will say not more than 2%-3% of the account equity. As long as there is enough money in the account to cover the margin requirement, you can trade it, but be aware that a losing trade could wipe out your account or cost you more.

Example, if you have $5,000 in the account and the margin is $2,000, you're trading 40% of the account equity. If the trade is a loss and you lose the entire $2000 margin, now, you can only trade 1 contract. If the loss is greater than the initial margin and you lose say $4500, you've for all intensive purposes wiped out the account. You can even go into the red where the loss is say $6000. Now you lost the entire account and now owe the broker an additional $1000 to cover the deficit.

Remember, only trade 2%-3% (not more than 5%) of the account equity. This is a means to preserve capital.