Forex Margin Calculator
How much margin a trade ties up, in US dollars, for any forex pair, gold or silver at your broker's leverage. Margin is the trade's full size divided by the leverage.
Margin is not your risk
Margin is the deposit your broker holds while the trade is open. It says nothing about how much you can lose: that depends on your stop distance and lot size, which is what the position size calculator works out. High leverage lowers the margin, so it lets you open bigger trades than your account can safely carry.
Brokers set leverage by instrument and by regulator, so check yours. Gold and silver use contract sizes of 100 and 5,000 ounces, not the 100,000 units of a forex lot; the lot size calculator shows what each lot controls.
Common questions
How is forex margin calculated?
Margin is the trade's full size divided by your leverage. One standard lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros; at a price of 1.10 that is $110,000, and at 1:30 leverage the broker holds $110,000 / 30 = $3,666.67 as margin. On a pair where the dollar comes first, such as USD/JPY, one lot is $100,000 and no price is needed.
How much margin do I need for 0.01 lots?
A hundredth of the margin for one lot. On EUR/USD at 1.10 and 1:30 leverage, one lot needs about $3,667, so 0.01 lots needs about $36.67. At 1:500 the same 0.01 lots needs about $2.20.
Does higher leverage mean more risk?
Not by itself. Leverage only changes the deposit the broker holds, not how much a trade can lose; that is set by the lot size and the stop distance. The danger is that high leverage lets you open far bigger positions than your account can survive, so size by risk with the position size calculator and treat margin as a check, not a target.
What is the margin for gold?
One standard lot of gold is usually 100 troy ounces. At $2,000 an ounce that is a $200,000 position, so at 1:20 leverage the margin is $10,000 and at 1:100 it is $2,000. Silver is usually 5,000 ounces per lot. Contract sizes and leverage limits vary by broker, so check yours.
What happens if my margin runs out?
If losses eat into your account until the equity falls to the broker's margin call level, you are warned; if it falls further to the stop-out level, the broker closes positions for you, usually starting with the biggest loser. Keeping margin small relative to the account leaves room for normal drawdowns before that happens.
Where we use this
Every backtest we publish sizes trades by risk, never by available margin.
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