What is leverage and margin?

What is Forex Leverage?

Leverage is the ability to control a large amount of money in the forex markets. In our CMA jurisdiction, we offer leverage of up to 400:1 for retail clients. This means for every $1 that you have in your trading account, you can trade $400 as a retail client. Leverage can exponentially increase your profits as well as your losses so it's crucial that traders take care when using leverage. The larger your position size, the larger your pip value will be and therefore, the greater the impact on your profit/loss (P/L).

What is Forex Margin?

Margin means the amount of money that you need to deposit into your Account to enter into or maintain a contract with us under the Agreements. Margin requirements are expressed as a percentage of the full amount i.e. 0.5%, 2%, 1%. You can use this percentage to calculate your maximum leverage in your trading account. The leverage ratio differs depending on regulation and what instruments and asset class you trade. Forex tends to have a higher leverage ratio, while cryptocurrency trading is generally much lower.

To calculate the margin requirement required to open a trade, please use the following formula: (Market Quote * Volume) / Leverage = Margin required (in quote currency)

For example: You want to open 0.1 lots (10,000 units of base currency) of EUR/USD at the current market quote of 1.4177 and with a leverage level of 1:200. Margin requirements for this trade are: (1.4177 * 10,000) / 200 = $70.89.

For your convenience, we have a margin calculator available in My Account. In order to open any new trade, you must have sufficient Free Margin (Free Margin = Equity - Total Margin Requirements).