Margin
The maximum available margin is .5% (200x leverage) for mini accounts and 1% (100x leverage) for standard accounts. Higher leverage magnifies both your gains and losses, traders always have the option of employing a lower degree of leverage.
The minimum margin requirement is approximately £50 per lot in a mini account and approximately £1000 per lot in a standard account. The requirements for leverage may vary with account size or market conditions, and may be changed from time to time at the sole discretion of FOREX.com.
Margin Example
GBP Based Currency Pair
Margin = (Contract size / Leverage)
You have £500 in a mini account. To calculate the margin required to execute 8 mini lots of GBP/USD (80,000 GBP) at 200x leverage, simply divide the deal size by the leverage amount e.g. (80,000 / 200 = 400). You post £400 margin for this trade, leaving a £100 balance in your account.
Non-GBP Based Currency Pair
Margin = [(Contract Size x Price) / Leverage]
In this example, you have £5,000 in a standard account. You want to execute 3 lots of EUR/GBP (300,000 Euros) at the current market price of 0.81500 using 100x leverage. To calculate the required margin for this position, multiply the deal size (300,000) by the price (0.81500) and then divide by the leverage (100x), e.g. [(300,000*0.81500)/100] = £2,445. After you executed this trade, you would have a £2,555 balance in your account.
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The trading platform automatically calculates margin requirements and checks available funds before allowing you to successfully enter a new position. If you do not have adequate funds available to enter a new position, you will receive an "insufficient margin funds" message when attempting to deal.
If the unrealised P&L of your net total open position falls below your margin balance, your account is under margined and all your open positions may be liquidated. To avoid liquidation of your positions, do not use your entire account balance as margin for open positions. Instead, leave enough funds in your account to withstand a market movement against your open positions. We suggest you always use stop loss orders in an attempt to limit your downside risk.
Please contact FOREX.com client services should you wish at any time to use a lower degree of leverage or otherwise adjust the margin settings in your account.
