In MetaTrader terminals, each instrument has defined minimum margin requirements needed to open a new position. This information is available on the Instrument Specification page under the "Margin Requirements" column.
On both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms, the minimum trade amount for most instruments is $5.
The margin percentage indicates how much of the total trade volume (adjusted for leverage) must be covered by your own funds.
For example, if the margin requirement is 2%, then only 2% of the total position size will be held from your balance — this is equivalent to a 1:50 leverage. The rest is covered by the broker.
How to determine the maximum leverage for an instrument?
You can calculate leverage based on the margin percentage using this simple formula:
Leverage = 100 / Margin Requirement (%)
For example, if the margin requirement for EURUSD is 0.1%, then:
100 / 0.1 = 1000, meaning the leverage is 1:1000.
You can find more detailed information about leverage and how it’s calculated here.
Margin calculation formulas for different instruments
For direct-quoted pairs (e.g., EURUSD, GBPUSD):
Margin = Current price (in USD) × Volume (e.g., 1 lot = 100,000) / LeverageFor inverse-quoted pairs (e.g., USDTRY, USDJPY):
Margin = Volume / LeverageFor cross pairs (e.g., EURCAD, EURJPY):
Margin = Current price × Volume / Leverage / Price of the quoted currency in USD (The first currency is the base; the second is the quote)
For stocks and indices:
Margin = Current price × Volume / Leverage
For more detailed information on how leverage is calculated, please refer to the information provided at the following link.