Inventory location before total value
This note uses a hypothetical position. Collateral may sit with a custodian, on a venue, inside a clearing arrangement, or in transit. The same asset supports different risks in each location.
I record ownership and account structure, eligible collateral, haircut treatment, and supported products before looking at the aggregate. A large total can otherwise conceal a local shortage.
- Current account and location.
- Eligible venues and products.
- Valuation, haircut, and margin terms.
- Authority to withdraw, move, or settle.
Treat transfer time as a risk variable
Trading may continue while collateral movement waits for confirmations, review, venue processing, or custody operations. Congestion, limits, and manual approval can extend a route that appeared short in normal conditions.
A liquidity scenario should therefore change the time to usable collateral, not just price and depth. Funds that arrive too late do not resolve the immediate constraint.
Net exposure can hide account walls
A surplus in one account and a deficit in another may produce a comfortable consolidated figure. It has little execution value when assets cannot move across accounts or counterparties in time.
Separate legally enforceable netting, economic offsets, and fully segregated positions. The distinctions matter more than a reassuring net total.
The scenario record should also identify which positions call for margin first, which assets can be released, and which transfer path is most likely to fail. A shared approver or settlement rail creates an additional dependency.
The map does not need to predict every price move. It should show what remains movable when time, rather than valuation, becomes the binding constraint.