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.
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 in this article.