How do futures affect my maintenance margin requirements in my margin?

Question

Hypothetical Background: I have an Reg T margin account with Interactive brokers. I have a maintenance margin requirement of ~30% for that; I have calculated the drawdown necessary to get a margin call. Let's say hypothetically I own about ~100k SPY from my savings and ~20k SPY bought from margin debt, and I feel comfortable that I won't get a margin call because I don't think the ~80% market drop I would need to get a margin call is happening anytime soon.
However, I would like to extend my 1.2x leverage without adding more margin. Suppose I buy one E-Mini S&P 500 Future at today's price of about 3695.00; I understand that future would give me 50x leverage on the index. How far would the S&P 500 have to fall to get a margin call on my entire account? I understand the future itself has a maintenance margin, but does this affect my total account margin?

Bob Baerker · Answer

Since I'm not familiar with the E-Mini, I can't solve this with the shortcut formulas such as is done in a combined long/short equity account which I am familiar with.
You could then set up a spreadsheet if you know the margin requirement of the E-mini which would be combined with the maintenance requirement of your SPY position.
Note that the individual margin requirements per any one position is not the problem.  What is a problem is if the total equity in the account drops below the maintenance requirement for all positions held.

How do futures affect my maintenance margin requirements in my margin?

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