Dear Mr _________;

Thank you for choosing E*TRADE.

You are correct in your example, for more information on the requirements and rules involved in option trades please visit the help tap on the web site.

For further assistance, please contact us at 1-800-786-2575, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or go to http://www.etrade.com and visit our Help Center. You can access the Help Center by clicking on the "help" button located on the E*TRADE banner at the top of each page. The Help Center provides detailed instructions, definitions, and services to assist you in navigating your E*TRADE account.

Sincerely,

Derek C Ramga
E*TRADE Customer Service

It's time for E*TRADE (SM)
Get your free @etrademail.com address at http://www.etrade.com.
Case #: 000419-217
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Daytime Phone :+7-095-7952410
Message :Yesterday I considered opportunity of building the puts spread and fund that application of E&Trade's margin requirements doesn't allow it.

For example, I wanted to buy 20 AMAT jul 70 puts and sell 20 AMAT jul 95 puts. For 04/17/2000 E&Trade's requierements were $124,800.0 what was too much. The position had a limited profit and loss potential. For example, if price had gone to $50 we would have got
70 put| $70 - $60 - premium(70);
95 put| $60 - $96 + premium(95);
ultimate result is | $70 - $95 - premium(70) + premium(95).
Even we assumed that the premiums equal zero (it's not true) our maximum loss was ($95 - $70)*20*100 = $30,000.0 what four times as less than E&Trade's reqirements. In the other hand, long 70 puts vs. short 95 puts equals long 70 calls vs. short 95 puts but E&Trade doesn't allow short calls.

There are qestions:

- does E&Trade have a special margin requirements for options strategies?

- did I understood the E&Trades margin ruls right?

- how can I do options strategies with existing margin requirements?

Best regards, _________

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