Notice to Members

Notice No. 148
03/15/2006

Margin Rate and Tier Change for New York Harbor Gasoline Blendstock Futures (RBOB) Contracts

EFFECTIVE DATE: Thursday, March 16, 2006 (close of business)

FUTURES CONTRACTS: NY Harbor Gasoline Blendstock

CONTRACT MONTHS: All Months

NOTE: The revised tiers and margins are in bold

RB Outright (Scan ) Margin Tiers

Tiers	*New*	Old
1	1st Nearby	1st and 2nd Nearby
2	2nd thru 5th Nearby	3rd thru 5th Nearby
3	Greater than the 5th nearby	Greater than the 5th nearby

RB Intra-Commodity Spread Tiers

Tiers	*New*	Old
1	1st Nearby	1st and 2nd Nearby
2	2nd thru 5th Nearby	3rd thru 5th Nearby
3	Greater than the 5th Nearby	Greater than the 5th Nearby

NYMEX Division Outright (Scan) Margins on New York Harbor Gasoline Blendstock (RBOB) Futures Contract (RB)

Tiers	Clearing Member / Maintenance Margin		Member Customer Initial Margin		Non-Member Customer Initial Margin
	*New*	Old	*New*	Old	*New*	Old
1	$5,500	$4,500	$6,050	$4,950	$7,425	$6,075
2	$5,000	$4,500	$5,500	$4,950	$6,750	$6,075
3	$4,500	$4,500	$4,950	$4,950	$6,075	$6,075

NYMEX Division Intra-Commodity Spread Margins on New York Harbor Gasoline Blendstock (RBOB) Futures Contract (RB)

Tiers	Clearing Member / Maintenance Margin		Member Customer Initial Margin		Non-Member Customer Initial Margin
	*New*	Old	*New*	Old	*New*	Old
1	$250	$500	$275	$550	$338	$675
2	$250	$300	$275	$330	$338	$405
3	$200	$200	$220	$220	$270	$270

Current systems calculate the margin requirement for spread positions by first determining the "Scan Risk" and then multiplying the number of spreads by a rate set by the Exchange. Scan Risk is determined by netting the outright margin required for each leg of a spread. Spreading between differently margined contracts results in a higher spread margin than between equally margined contracts. Below is provided an example where the legs of a spread are margined differently.

Scan Risk Example at Clearing Member Rates
A spread consisting of one RB leg in Tier 1 and another in Tier 2 will have its requirement (at the clearing member rates) calculated at $ 750 starting on Thursday, March 16, 2006.

One Long Tier 1 RB	(1 * $5,500)	=	$5,500
One Short Tier 2 RB	(1 * $ 5,000)	=	$5,000
Net Scan Risk	($5,500-$5,000)	=	$500
Spread Rate	(1* $ 250)	= +	$250
Total Requirement		=	$750

Summary
Clearing Member (Maintenance Margin):	$750
Member Customer (Initial Margin):	$825
Non-Member Customer (Initial Margin):	$1,013

This notice supersedes all previous notices regarding outright margins for the NYMEX NY Harbor Gasoline Blendstock Contract.

Should you have any questions or require any further information, please contact exchangeinfo@nymex.com