futures margin question

initial price on day1 100 initial margin requirment 5 maint margin 3 sett price day 1 103 sett price day 2 96 sett price day 3 98 what is the ending balance on day 3 of an investor with 10 short positions? assume all margin calls are met. i always get these wrong so would greatly appreciate a detailed description of the daily balances and end result!

10 per position, 100 for all

thats correct, but can you pls explain how that works?

day 1: price moved 100-103 sold so made a loss of 3 * 10 = 30 margin balance fell 50 - 30 = 20 so needs to bring balance back to 50 day 2: 103-96 gained 7 * 10 = 70 margin Balance=50+70=120 day 3: 96-98 lost 2*10 = 20 margin balance = 120-20=100

awesome. thanks CP