You are short 27 gasoline futures contracts, established at an initial settle price of $2.505 per gallon, where each contract represents 42,000 gallons. Your initial margin to establish the position is $7,800 per contract, and the maintenance margin is $6,900 per contract. Over the subsequent four trading days, gasoline settles at $2.491, $2.519, $2.538, and $2.566, respectively.
Compute the balance in your margin account at the end of each of the four trading days, and compute your total profit or loss at the end of the trading period. Assume that a margin call requires you to fund your account back to the initial margin requirement.