A Primer for Physician Investors and Medical Professionals

By: Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

[Editor-in-Chief]

[PART 8 OF 8]

NOTE: This is an eight part ME-P series based on a weekend lecture I gave more than a decade ago to an interested group of graduate, business and medical school students. The material is a bit dated and some facts and specifics may have changed since then. But, the overall thought-leadership information of the essay remains interesting and informative. We trust you will enjoy it.

Introduction

We have seen that there are rules which stipulate that no brokerage firm may arrange for any credit to any client whose margin account does not have an equity of at least $2,000. The principal application of this rule is to initial transactions in newly opened margin accounts, however, it does apply at all times. 

Example: A doctor buys 100 shares, at $15, in a new margin account. His margin call is $1,500.

Rationale: $2,000 would be too much to require as it exceeds the total purchase price. However, a loan to the doctor isn’t allowed to be extended until, and unless, the account has equity of $2,000. The trade is simply paid in full -100% of the purchase price is the margin call. 

Example: A doctor buys 200 shares, at $15, in a new margin account (assume Regulation T = 60%).

His margin call is $2,000 

Rational: Regulation T 60% would be $1,800 (60% x $3,000). Since this would be $200 shy of the minimum equity level of $2,000, the call is the $2,000 minimum equity. 

Example: A doctor buys 300 shares, at $15, in a new margin account. (assume Regulation T = 60%) His margin call is $2, 700. 

Rationale: The account will have equity of $2, 700 (60% x $4,500), which is more than the $2,000 minimum. Therefore, the Regulation T initial requirement prevails.

The important points to remember about minimum credit requirements are:

1. You are not called upon to pay more than the purchase price.

2. You cannot be granted a loan until the account has an equity of at least $2,000.

3. If a decline in the market value of an existing account puts the equity below $2,000, there is no requirement to bring the equity back up to $2,000.

4. You may not withdraw money or securities from the account, if in doing so, you either:

1. bring the equity below $ 2,000, or
2. bring the equity below the maintenance level

These are the only times SMA may not be withdrawn from an account

The Short Sale

Selling short is engaged in by medical professionals who anticipate a market decline. By selling borrowed property (shares of stock) at the current market value, the doctor expects to return the borrowed property (shares of the same issuer bought in the marketplace) to the lender, normally the investor’s brokerage firm, when the market price is lower, thus profiting from the drop in price.

Essentially this is the buy low, and sell high philosophy. However, when executing a short sale one is selling high initially, then buying low later to “cover”, or close out the deal by buying low and selling high in the reverse order .

Bear in mind that the short seller is borrowing property, not money. However, due to the high degree of risk inherent in short selling, it is permitted only in a margin account. A Regulation T call is required as a show of good faith, a way the client demonstrates the financial wherewithal to buy back the property. Let’s look at a short sale transaction and the subsequent effects of market fluctuations on equity, as we did previously with buying on margin (long margin).

Credit Balance and Equity

A doctor shorts (sells short) 100 shares at $100 per share with Regulation T at 60%. The margin account would be credited with the proceeds of the sale, though the doctor has no access to these monies at this point in the deal. The account should also be credited with the doctor’s required Regulation T margin call. Therefore, the credit balance in a doctor’s margin account is the sum of the  proceeds of the short sale, plus the Regulation T margin call. This number will not change, regardless of future market fluctuations. The credit balance in a short margin account is a constant.

What does change with market fluctuations?

1. the cost of buying back the borrowed property to cover the short sale.
2. the equity in the account.

Equity in a short margin account is computed as follows:

Credit of  $ 16,000 – CMV  $10,000 equals $ 6,000 equity.

Now, let’s evaluate the effect of appreciation in the market price

If the stock rises to $120 per share, then the credit of $16,000 – CMV $ 2, 000, equals $ 4,000 equity.

Remember, the credit balance does not change when CMV fluctuates. The equity in this account is no longer Regulation T.

Let’s determine the amount by which the account is restricted (remember, any margin account with equity below Regulation T is restricted). Or, 60% X $12,000 = $ 7,200 – $ 4,000 = $ 3,200

Also, it should be clear, the equity percentage of this account is less than 60%, by the formula:

Equity / CMV = $ 4,000/$ 12,000 = 33.33%

This is the basic principle of the short sale; as the market price of the shorted stock increases, the equity decreases. The reverse is also true; as the price declines, the equity rises. Remember, short sellers are anticipating a market decline. Also, when buying long, or selling short, any change in market value causes a dollar for dollar change in equity.

Minimum Maintenance Requirements (Short) 

If the market continues to appreciate to $160 per share, the equity drops to zero.

Suppose that the market price rose to its theoretical maximum, or infinity? The doctor’s loss would be infinite. Remember, the maximum potential loss on a short sale is unlimited!

To protect against such an occurrence, industry Self Regulatory Organizations (SROs) developed regarding the minimum equity that must be maintained in a margin account. The minimum maintenance in a short account is equity of 30% of CMV. Note that this is higher than the 25 % figure for long margin accounts due to the nature of extreme risk of loss in the short sale.

Given that the CMV has risen to $160 per share ($16,000 total CMV), the minimum equity required to be maintained under SRO rules is 30% x CMV or  $4,800 equity. The doctor would receive a $4,800 maintenance call to bring his equity from -0- to the $4,800 minimum.

Remember, as in (cash) long accounts, there is no requirement to bring a margin account up to Regulation T equity. The maintenance equity is the percentage up to which the account must be brought when and if equity drops below the 25% or 30% levels.

Excess Equity (SMA) and Buying Power

We have seen what market appreciation does to a short seller. Let’s evaluate the effects of market depreciation in value. If the declines to $85, per share, then $ 16,000 credit – CMV $ 8,500 = $ 7,500 equity. Again, market fluctuations don’t affect credit balance. The equity in the account is now higher than Regulation T, and SMA (excess equity) has just been created.

And, as before, excess equity (SMA) can be used to buy more securities. Couldn’t it also be used as the Regulation T down payment on another sale? Yes, this is another use of SMA that is called shorting power or “selling power”. The formula for buying power as well as shorting power is exactly the same: Remember, it’s SMA / RT to use buying power.

In this case, $2,400 / 60% = $4,000 of buying (shorting) power after the decline to $85, the doctor could buy long or sell short another $4,000 worth of stock and use his SMA to meet his 60% ($2,400) Regulation T Margin call. Recall, the margin call for a short sale is the same as for a long purchase.

Cheap Stock Rule

The SROs created a set of special maintenance rules in short margin accounts to protect against unreasonable risk in low-priced issues. These rules are appropriately labeled the “cheap stock” rules.

At all times, a doctor must maintain equity in a short margin account of the greater of the following:

1. 30% of the CMV (SRO Minimum Maintenance Requirement)
2. $2,000 (SRO Minimum Credit Requirement)

3.   Equity as required under the rules  below

The cheap stock rules are as follows:

Stock Price                                     Minimum Maintained Equity

Example: A doctor shorts 1,000 shares of a $1.50 per share stock. How much must he deposit initially and how much must be maintained in the account?

First, since Regulation T won’t come into play until equity hits $2,000, the SRO minimum credit requirement of $2,000 should come into play. However, since this is a cheap stock, we determine if the requirements of those special rules require more than $2,000. They do, and require a minimum be maintained in this short margin account of at least $2.50 per share sold short (1,000 shares at $2.50 each = $2,500 minimum that needs to be in this account at all times to comply with SRO rules).

Furthermore, if the market begins to rise, the cheap stock rules would require that at all times the amount of money in the account be at least 100% of the price per share until the stock hits $5. For example, if the stock rose to $4 per share, the doctor would have to have $4,000 in the account to carry the position (1,000 shares times 100% of CMV, $4 per share in this case).

Day Trading and the Internet

Internet day trading has become something of an, investment bubble of late, suggesting that something lighter than air can pop and disappear in an instant. This has occurred despite the fact that most lay and healthcare professionals who engage in such activities, do not appreciated even the basic rules of margin and debt, as reviewed review. History is filled with examples: from the tulip mania of 1630 Holland and the British South Sea Bubble of the 1700’s; to the Florida land boom of the roaring twenties and the Great Crash of 1929; and to $ 875 an ounce gold in the eighties and to the collapse of Japans stock and real estate market in  early 1990’s. To this list, one might now add day Internet trading

The cost of compulsive gambling, arising from internet day trading activities, may be high for the physician, his family and society at large. Compulsive gamblers, in the desperation phase of their gambling, exhibit high suicide ideation, as in the case of Mark O Barton’s the murderous day-trader in Atlanta. His idea actually became a final act of desperation. Less dramatically is a marked increase in subtle illegal activity. These acts include fraud, embezzlement, CPT up-coding, medical over utilization, excessive full risk HMO contracting, and other “alleged white collar crimes.”  Higher healthcare and social costs in police, judiciary (civil and criminal) and corrections result because of compulsive gambling. The impact on family members is devastating. Compulsive gamblers cause havoc and pain to all family members. The spouses and other family members also go through progressive deterioration in their lives. In this desperation phase, dysfunctional families are left with a legacy of anger, resentment, isolation and in many instances, outright hate.

Recent Updates

Since most people, including medical professions,  initially loose at day trading, they give up and decide not to do it anymore. As there is a minimum amount of money, about $ 25,000-50,000 of trading capital needed to start, this loss is a powerful de-motivator. Still, scared by the Barton incident, the NASD and NYSE have recently proposed new rules for those who engage in questionable day trading activities.  One proposal would provide that a minimum equity of $ 25,000 be maintained at all times, versus the current $ 2,000 for other margin accounts. If the amount of a pattern day trader fell below the new threshold, no further trading would be permitted until the threshold was maintained.

Options Trading

Stock options are contracts that obligate medical investors to either buy or sell a stock at a specific price, by a specific date. For example, a put option is a bet on falling prices. Let’s suppose Dr. Jane Smith holds a put option on XYZ stock, with a $ 50 exercise price, and the stock falls to $ 45. The value of the put rises in the options market because it lets her sell a $ 50 share, which is above the market price. A call option, on the other hand, is a bet on rising prices. Again, Dr. Smith holds a call option on XYZ stock, with an exercise price of $ 50. If the share rises to $ 55, the value of the option increase since she may buy for $ 50, a stock now worth $ 55.

In 1999, Charles Schwab, the biggest on-line brokerage executed more than 30 million option trades. Due to this demand, Schwab launched other complex services, such as the on-line simultaneous buying and selling of options. Also crowding the options field, are new upstart on-line brokerages, such as: Interactive Brokers, Preferred Capital Markets Technology and CyberCorp. They provide powerful software which will allow options in the future to trade as effortlessly and efficiently as stocks.

In  mid-2000 the Reuters Group PLC Instinet Corporation, the electronic network most widely used by institutional investors, opened an Internet brokerage aimed at consumers, including healthcare practitioners. Instinet will let retail clients place orders alongside institutions, and will offer access to charts, news and research. Thus, artificially empowering the individual investor, as well as again tempting the compulsive prone addict.

Acknowledgements

The assistance Mr. James Nash, of the Investment Training Institute, in Tucker, GA is acknowledged in the preparation of this ME-P.

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Web Sites of Interest

http://www.tradehard.com

The ultimate super site for investment bankers and traders. Started by a group of well known stockbrokers, day traders, and money managers. This site offers advice about how to work the market to your advantage.

http://www.internetinvesting.com

This is an investor’s guide to on-line brokers, discount brokers, day trading and after hours investing. The site offers stock quotes, financial news, investment banking strategies, a book list and daily commentary about the market. This is a serious text heavy resource.

References and Readings

• Atkinson,  W., and Crawford, AJ.:  On-line investing raises questions about suitability. Wall Street Journal, November, 28, 1999.
• Farrell, C.: Day Trade On-line. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999.
• Friedfertig, M.: Electronic Day Trader’s Secretes. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1999.
• Gibowicz, Peter: Registered Representative (Study Program ,Volume II). Edward Fleur Financial Education Corporation, New York, 1998.
• Gibowicz, Peter: Quick Seven. Edward Fleur Financial Education Corporation, New York, 1998.
• Gibowicz, Peter: Registered Representative (Study Program, Volume I). Edward Fleur Financial Education Corporation, New York, 1998.
• Kadlec, CW.: Dow 100,000: Fact or Fiction. New York Institute of Finance, New York, 1999
• Nash, J: Securities Markets. In, Nash, J: (International Training Institute Manual). Atlanta, 1999.
• Nassar, DS: How to Get Started in Electronic Day Trading. McGraw-Hill, New York,
• 1999.
• Schmuckler, E:  The Addictive Personality. In, Marcinko, DE (2001 Financial Planning for Medical Professionals. Harcourt Professional Publishing, New York, 2000. 

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