Question

What is the percentage increase in the net worth of your brokerage account if the price of XTel immediately changes to (a) $44; (b) $40; (c)

Answer 1

Suppose that Intel currently is selling at $40 per share. You buy 500 shares using $15,000 of your own money, borrowing the remainder of the purchase price from your broker. The rate on the margin loan is 8%.

What is the percentage increase in the net worth of your brokerage account if the price of Intel immediately changes to (a) $44; (b) $40; (c) $36?

Answer:

Initial worth of brokerage account = 500 × $40 = $20,000

a). if the price changes to $44, then:

worth of brokerage account becomes = 500 × $44 = $22,000

∴ percentage increase = (22,000 - 20,000) / 20,000 = 10% increase.

b). if the price changes to $40, then:

worth of brokerage account becomes = 500 × $40 = $20,000

∴ percentage increase = (20,000 - 20,000) / 20,000 = 0 or no increase.

c). if the price changes to $36, then:

worth of brokerage account becomes = 500 × $36 = $18,000

∴ percentage increase = (18,000 - 20,000) / 20,000 = 10% decrease