Margin calculator
This margin calculator shows the deposit, called required margin, that your broker sets aside when you open a leveraged position. Enter the pair, the price, your size in lots and the leverage available to you, and it returns the position's full value and the margin needed.
The formula
Required margin = position value ÷ leverage
Leverage of 30:1 means margin of 1/30 of the position value, about 3.33%. At 20:1 it is 5%, and at 2:1 it is 50%.
Worked example
Illustrative numbers: you want 0.5 lots of GBP/USD at 1.2700, with 30:1 leverage.
- Units: 0.5 × 100,000 = 50,000 pounds.
- Position value: 50,000 × 1.2700 = $63,500.
- Required margin: $63,500 ÷ 30 = about $2,116.67.
At 20:1 the same position would need $3,175. With a $4,000 balance, the 30:1 version leaves about $1,883 of free margin to absorb losses. Every pip against the position costs $5, so after roughly 377 pips the free margin would be gone, and the broker would have started closing it well before that, once your margin level hit the close-out point.
Reading the margin calculator result
Required margin is not what you can lose; it is the collateral locked while the trade is open. Your losses come from the price move and can exceed the margin on that trade. The more of your balance is tied up as margin, the less room you have before a margin call or automatic close-out. In the UK and EU, retail positions are closed when the margin level falls to 50%.
Leverage caps for UK and EU retail clients are 30:1 for major currency pairs, 20:1 for other pairs, gold and major indices, 10:1 for other commodities and minor indices, 5:1 for individual shares and 2:1 for crypto. Enter the leverage that applies to you, not the maximum you might be offered elsewhere. Pair this with the lot size calculator so size comes from risk, not from how much margin you have spare.