Getting what seems a common DAS margin order error

[Abbythebeast 2]

Send_Rej Buy 19 TSLA 871.55 --SMRT--YOUR ORDER IS NOT ACCEPTED. IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE DESIRED POSITION YOUR EQUITY WITH LOAN VALUE [11000.00 CAD] MUST EXCEED THE INITIAL MARGIN [16000.00 CAD]

Using IB / DAS.

Hey guys, I have been trading well and recently tried to up my purchased shares.  I was trying to trade NIO and TSLA today (very common stocks) and I keep getting this error if I try to use my margin.  It seems like I can use the balance I have in cash which is roughly $10,000, but if I try to use my margin (IB says my buying power is around $33,000) I just keep getting errors.  I seen other people having this problem but couldn't find a solve for it.  

Anybody know what is happening and if I can fix it?  I thought I remembered reading that I was supposed to have a minimum amount of $25,000 in the account to be able to use margin, am I remembering right or is something just wrong?

[Bryan 7]

You are experiencing stocks with a "special margin requirement", because they are risky or highly volatile. This is to protect you and brokerage from big losses. If you click the "S", or where it would be in the montage, you can see what the special requirement is. Nio is currently at 100% long, and 25% short. This means that you must use 100% cash in taking a position long, and 25% cash taking a short. ("THEY" think it's very likely to go down, and doesn't have much more room up) You will have to drop your share size to trade something like this. I like this link: https://www.firstrade.com/content/en-us/education/margin/marginrequirements/

Bryan W

[Abbythebeast 2]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

You are experiencing stocks with a "special margin requirement", because they are risky or highly volatile. This is to protect you and brokerage from big losses. If you click the "S", or where it would be in the montage, you can see what the special requirement is. Nio is currently at 100% long, and 25% short. This means that you must use 100% cash in taking a position long, and 25% cash taking a short. ("THEY" think it's very likely to go down, and doesn't have much more room up) You will have to drop your share size to trade something like this. I like this link: https://www.firstrade.com/content/en-us/education/margin/marginrequirements/

Bryan W

You are amazing.  Thanks so much!