The per-period margin pull is bounded by a safety envelope set by your risk profile, and it rampstoward the ceiling gradually rather than slamming to it — under volatility the growth-optimal leverage sits below the max, so "grow fastest" is itself a ramp. Three profile dials shape it:
- Loan ceiling (
maxBorrowPct). The deepest the loan goes as a share of the portfolio (Balanced 45%). - Crash buffer (
crashSurvivalPct). How big a market drop the position can ride out before a forced sale (Balanced 30%) — the bigger the buffer, the further back from the margin-call edge. - Ramp per period (
ltvRampPerPeriod). The most leverage can rise in a single period (Balanced 2%), so it climbs toward the ceiling over many periods, not on day one.
Y_max = min(safe-capacity envelope, ltvRampPerPeriod × portfolio)
Maintenance margin (≈ 33.5%, so a forced sale fires near ≈ 66.5% LTV) and the utilization buffer are broker facts, not user dials. Floating a bill is cash-neutral, so it's bounded only by this envelope; paying down debt principal costs real cash, so it's additionally bounded by your cash cushion (cashCushionMonths of bills kept in chequing). All four dials come from the risk profile — see the presets table.
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