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What is leverage?

Updated over a week ago

What is leverage?

Leverage is the ratio of a trader’s own funds (the deposit) to the total trade amount.
It allows traders to open positions that are significantly larger than the actual funds available in their account. In simple terms, it is a loan provided by the broker to increase the potential trading volume.

The company provides traders with the opportunity to carry out trading operations using leverage of up to 1:1000 on MT4-Instant and MT4-Market accounts, as well as on MT5-Instant and MT5-Market accounts.
This means that the total notional value of all open positions at one time can exceed the current balance of funds in the trader's trading account by a maximum of 1000 times. The size of the leverage depends on the type of trading account, the trading instrument and the amount of the total position in USD.

Leverage size depending on the total position size in USD

MT4-Market and MT5-Market

FX Major currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 1 million

1000

1 million – 5 million

500

5 million – 10 million

200

10 million – 20 million

100

more than 20 million

5

FX RU and FX S. America currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

any

40

Other currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 5 million

200

5 million – 10 million

100

10 million – 20 million

20

more than 20 million

5

Gold

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 3 million

500

3 million – 10 million

200

10 million – 20 million

100

20 million – 35 million

20

more than 35 million

5

Silver

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 1 million

500

1 million – 5 million

100

5 million – 10 million

20

more than 10 million

5

CFDs on Indices ES, FDAX, YM, NQ, Z

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 0.5 million

500

0.5 million – 1 million

300

1 million – 2 million

100

2 million – 5 million

50

5 million – 10 million

20

more than 10 million

10

CFDs on other Indices

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 0.3 million

200

0.3 million – 1 million

100

1 million – 1.5 million

50

1.5 million – 5 million

25

more than 5 million

10

CFDs on Oil Futures

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 500K

100

500K – 1 million

50

1 million – 2 million

25

more than 2 million

10

CFDs on Metals (except Gold and Silver)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 500K

50

500K – 2 million

25

2 million – 5 million

12.5

more than 5 million

10

1. Major Stocks (AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, TSLA)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 100K

10

more than 100K

5

2. All other stocks (except those listed in item 1)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

any volume

5

3. Major Cryptocurrencies (BTCUSD and ETHUSD)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 50K

200

50K – 500K

100

500K – 1 million

50

1 million – 5 million

20

5 million – 10 million

10

more than 10 million

1

4. Other Cryptocurrencies (except those listed in item 3)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 5K

75

5K – 10K

50

10K – 500K

20

500K – 1 million

10

more than 1 million

1


MT4-Instant and MT5-Instant

FX Major currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 1 million

1000

1 million – 5 million

500

5 million – 10 million

200

10 million – 20 million

100

more than 20 million

5

FX RU and FX S. America currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

any

40

Other currency pairs

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 5 million

200

5 million – 10 million

100

more than 10 million

5

Gold

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 3 million

500

3 million – 10 million

200

10 million – 20 million

100

20 million – 35 million

20

more than 35 million

5

Silver

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 1 million

500

1 million – 5 million

100

5 million – 10 million

20

more than 10 million

5

CFD on Indices ES, FDAX, YM, NQ, Z

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 0.5 million

500

0.5 million – 1 million

300

1 million – 2 million

100

2 million – 5 million

50

5 million – 10 million

20

more than 10 million

10

CFD on other Indices

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 0.3 million

200

0.3 million – 1 million

100

1 million – 1.5 million

50

1.5 million – 5 million

25

more than 5 million

10

CFD on Oil Futures

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 500K

100

500K – 1 million

50

1 million – 2 million

25

more than 2 million

10

CFD on Metals (except Gold and Silver)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 500K

50

500K – 2 million

25

2 million – 5 million

12.5

more than 5 million

10

1. Major Stocks (AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, TSLA)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 100K

10

more than 100K

5

2. All other stocks (except those listed in item 1)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

any volume

5

3. Major Cryptocurrencies (BTCUSD and ETHUSD)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 50K

200

50K – 500K

100

500K – 1 million

50

1 million – 5 million

20

5 million – 10 million

10

more than 10 million

1

4. Other Cryptocurrencies (except those listed in item 3)

Total position size in USD

Leverage*

less than 5K

75

5K – 10K

50

10K – 500K

20

500K – 1 million

10

more than 1 million

1

* Every Friday, 1 hour before the close of the trading session, for all open and newly opened positions, the maximum leverage is reduced by one or more "steps" down.

For example, for FX Majors currency pairs, the maximum leverage during this period changes from 1000 to 500; for silver, the maximum leverage decreases from 100 to 50, and so on.


Example of margin calculation considering floating leverage on MT4-Instant account

Let's consider a hypothetical example with floating leverage:

Opening position №1: Buy 8 lots of EURUSD at price 1.10510 (Position №1).
Nominal value equals 8 * 100,000 * 1.10510 = 884,080 USD.
Since the nominal value 884,080 USD does not exceed 1,000,000 USD, the margin requirements (collateral) are calculated with leverage 1:1000, i.e., the margin is: 884,080 ÷ 1000 = 884.08 USD.

Opening position №2: Buy 40 lots of EURUSD at 1.08310.
Nominal value equals: 40 * 100,000 * 1.08310 = 4,332,400 USD.

The total nominal value for positions №1 and №2:
884,080 (pos. №1) + 4,332,400 (pos. №2) = 5,216,480 USD.

Now the total nominal value of two open positions exceeds 5,000,000 USD, and the total margin is calculated differently:
for the first 1,000,000 USD leverage is 1:1000,
for the next 4,000,000 USD leverage is 1:500,
and for the remaining part leverage is 1:200.

Thus, the margin equals:
1,000,000 ÷ 1000 + 4,000,000 ÷ 500 + 216,480 ÷ 200 = 1000 + 8000 + 1082.4 = 10,082.4 USD.

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