- An investor enters into a short position in a corn futures contract at $6.58 /bushel. The contract unit is 5,000 bushels. The initial margin is $2,860, the maintenance margin is $2,600, and the futures price rises to $6.605/ bushel at the end of the first day and $6.6525/ bushel on the end of the second day. Compute the amount in the margin account at the end of each day for the short position and any variation margin needed