This is ostensibly designed to protect the integrity of the clearing houses as well as giving some brokers the cover they need to hike margins on their clients to protect their own firms in the event of trades gone sour. Keep in mind that these are MINIMUM MARGIN REQUIREMENTS. Brokers are free to set customer margins wherever they wish as long as they meet minimum.

Point to note here. We hear a lot about the little guy being squeezed, but little is a relative thing. I have nowhere near the margin available in my account as even the smallest of pros. I don't begrudge this - clearly my broker doesn't want me to blow up - a dead account makes no money for him. I expect this is true of most retail futures accounts, so when they say the little guy is being squeezed, bear in mind this "little guy" they refer to is a lot bigger than any of us. At any rate, there's a better way to play the futures if you're a small fry and that's with options. Just as with stock options, your losses are limited to the premium paid.

ebear