RE: However, if prices fall, it is you, and not JP Morgan Chase, who will be asked to put up more collateral. If you don’t do this, then your account will be sold out.
Who’s gonna buy?
I’ll buy.
This is just a temporary situation. Lowered oil prices give Politicians cover to tax the crap out of a gallon of gas while the price at the pump falls to supposedly pay for infrastructure needs.
The Oil suppliers will start throttling back production and capping wells to drive the prices back up.
Then when it goes back up everyone will bitch at the Oil Companies not the crooks in office and the politicians will use the newly gained “revenues” to buy more votes instead of building and repairing roads/ bridges.
Wash, rinse repeat....
There is always a buyer. At what price is the question.
The Chicago Futures Exchange guarantees the integrity of the contracts and insures the liquidity of the market.
If you get a margin call, your collateral is still adequate to cover your losses, but not sufficient to meet margin requirements. If you are sold out, you lose the money you put up against the loss, and your contracts will be sold at the exchange market price. In other words, they don’t wait until you’re in a negative position to close you out.
In any case, the main point of my comment is that the banks don’t have a dog in this fight. They hold the contracts for the real owners, and deliver them as instructed. They don’t own them, and make their money by charging custody and transaction fees.