Get equity funds/margins
Before placing an order you need to know how much cash/margin is available. Never assume — check.
margins = kite.margins(segment="equity")
print(margins)Key fields:
{
"available": {
"cash": 48250.35, # free cash
"live_balance": 48250.35, # cash + unrealised MTM adjustments
"opening_balance": 50000.0,
},
"utilised": {
"debits": 1749.65, # margin blocked by open positions/orders
"span": 0.0,
"exposure": 0.0,
"m2m_realised": 0.0,
"m2m_unrealised": 0.0,
},
"net": 48250.35,
}available["cash"] is what you can safely deploy on a fresh CNC buy. net is the number to check before sizing any new position — it already accounts for what's tied up in existing orders and positions.
def get_available_cash(kite) -> float:
return kite.margins(segment="equity")["available"]["cash"]Why check this every time, not just once at startup
Margin changes continuously — from fills, from mark-to-market on open positions, from other orders placed manually or by other bots on the same account. A sizing function that used a startup-time snapshot will eventually try to place an order with capital that's no longer free, producing an avoidable rejection (chapter 57) or, worse, a margin call. Fetch fresh margins immediately before each sizing decision.