Even an accurate 99% "value at risk" model would give rise to end of day mark to market losses exceeding the margin approximately once every six months. Trader networth provides an additional level of safety to the market and works as a deterrent to the incidence of defaults. A member with high networth would try harder to avoid defaults as his own networth would be at stake. The definition of networth needs to be made precise having regard to prevailing accounting practices and laws.

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