Find out how much margin you’ll need, accurately and reliably. Our tool makes margin calculations quick and easy.
The CompareForexBrokers Forex Margin Calculator is built with accurate, instant insight in mind. Whenever you open a position in the forex market, you’ll need to put forward a certain amount of money as your margin. With our tool, you’ll know exactly how much margin you’ll need to open and maintain your position.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re just starting out, or you’re a seasoned market operator, this is a valuable tool. Accurate margin calculations are critical for reliable decision-making.
Margin Calculator
Deposit amount to open the trade
How Does the Margin Calculator Work?
To use our Forex Margin Calculator, you’ll simply need to input the data related to your trade. This includes the type of currency pair, the leverage you will use, your base currency, and the size of the trade.
Inputting this information is easy. Just follow these simple steps:
- Choose Your Currency Pair: Which forex pair are you going to trade? Select it from the drop-down list of commonly-traded pairs.
- Select Your Account Base Currency: Choose the base currency you are using for your account from the drop-down menu. The options are USD, GBP, AUD and EUR.
- Define Your Leverage: How much money will you borrow from the broker to open the position? This is your leverage. Leverage and margin are usually expressed together as a ratio, such as 20:1. Higher leverage ratios increase the potential reward, and also the potential risk.
- Pick Your Trade Size: This section outlines the size of your position in lots. You simply need to select the number of standard lots you plan to trade.
- Input the Price: The tool will auto-fill the pricing data for the forex pair you have chosen. This data comes directly from our own pricing feed, and should be accurate and up-to-date. If you want to explore hypothetical trading scenarios, you can manually adjust this input.
- Click the Calculate Button: The final step is to click the button marked ‘Calculate’. This completes the calculation for you, displaying the amount you need to put forward to open your trade. All of the data you input into the form will be used to estimate the margin requirement, and the tool makes this calculation for you.
Understanding the Results
The result displayed by the calculator is the amount you need to deposit in order to open and maintain the trade. It is displayed in the base currency you have selected, as this is the currency you’ll be using as you manage your account.
Different leverage ratios and trade sizes will carry different margin requirements. However, the calculator will take this into account, giving you an accurate calculation.
Tips for Effective Margin Management
- Don’t be tempted to increase leverage too high or too quickly. While high leverage does boost the potential profits, the potential losses are also significant.
- Make the margin calculator your go-to tool for deciding how much margin you need. This will tell you if your account balance is sufficient to support the trade.
- Check, review, and adjust open positions on a regular basis. Keep in mind that margin requirements can change quickly, so close monitoring is important.
What factors should I consider when using a forex margin calculator?
The main things to consider when using the forex margin calculator are as follows:
- The currency pair
- The pair’s current market price
- The size of your position
- The amount of leverage you’re using.
Leverage is essentially the inverse of the margin – it’s the money you’ll borrow from the broker to increase the size of your position. Borrowing more money from the broker increases both the potential risk and the potential reward. Find out more about what leverage is in our forex trading guide.
All of these different elements have a direct impact on the amount of margin you need to keep your position open.
Other Calculators and Forex Trading Tools
profit calculator
profit calculator
Estimates profit in pip value and base currency from trade details.
lot calculator
lot calculator
Determines position size in various lot units to manage risk.
pip calculator
pip calculator
Calculates the value of a pip in the deposit currency for risk management.
fee comparison
fee comparison
Compares spreads and commission fees across major forex pairs and brokers.
margin calculator
margin calculator
Calculates required margin using leverage, trade size, and forex pair.
Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that our calculators are for informational purposes only. The results they provide do not constitute financial or investment advice.
FAQs: Forex Margin
What is margin in forex trading?
In forex trading, margin is the amount of your own money you need to put forward to open a trade, and then keep that trade open. It’s essentially your deposit on the trade.
The rest of the trade value is made up of funds borrowed from the broker. This is your leverage. Leverage and margin are expressed as a ratio. So, if you have a position leveraged at 20:1, you’ll need to put forward $1 for every $20 you borrow from the broker.
While increasing the leverage does increase your potential profit, it also increases your potential loss. Tread carefully with leverage and make risk management your top priority.
What is margin balance in forex?
The forex margin balance is the amount of money you have in your account that you can use to service your margin requirement.
If your trades make a loss, these losses will be subtracted from your account balance. But if the amount of money in your account is not enough to service your open trades, these positions will be closed automatically.
Market fluctuations and other changes can see your margin requirements shift rapidly. With this in mind, it’s wise to monitor both your open trades and your account balance on a continuous basis. This will help you decide on your next move – whether this is adding more money to the account, or strategically closing some positions.
What is a margin call?
A margin call happens when your account balance is no longer enough to service your open trades. This can happen for many reasons, but it usually occurs when rapid market changes negatively impact your positions.
If you’re facing a margin call, you’ll either need to add more money to your account to service your positions, or close some of the open trades.
How do you calculate margin?
To calculate margin, you must divide the total transaction value by the leverage ratio.
For instance, if you opened a position valued at $100,000 in total, with a leverage of 100:1, you’d use the following calculation:
100,000 / 100
= 1,000
This means your margin would be $1,000. So you’d need to put forward $1,000 of your own money to control a position worth $100,000.
The calculation included here is very simple. Sometimes, leverage and margin calculations will be more complex than this. This is why our margin calculator tool is so valuable. The tool provides an accurate calculation, based on the data you input, without fail.
What is the relationship between leverage and margin requirement?
In forex, leverage is the money you borrow, and the margin is the amount of your own money you offer up as a deposit. As such, these two amounts are inversely proportional.
The higher the leverage, the lower the margin requirement. Take a $100,000 position as an example:
At a leverage of 20:1, your margin would be $5,000. This is because 5,000 is 1/20th of 100,000.
But with a leverage of 100:1, your margin would only be $1,000. Because 1,000 is 1/100th of 100,000.
This is partially why so many traders gravitate towards high-leverage trades. The potential for a high reward is very enticing, even though there is a real risk of significant losses.
Instead of rushing into a high-leverage trade, it’s advisable to proceed with caution. Increase your leverage slowly, and only use higher leverage ratios on instruments you know well. Use our Margin Calculator and other tools to ensure your calculations are accurate.
Discover more about high-leverage forex brokers in our guide.