Required margin from lot size, leverage and price.
A margin calculator shows how much of your balance a broker sets aside to open a leveraged trade. Enter the instrument, lot size, leverage and price, and it returns the trade's notional value and the required margin, converted into your account currency at the live rate. Figures are indicative, as margin rules vary between brokers.
Required margin = lots × contract size × price ÷ leverage
EUR/USD, 1 lot, 1:100 leverage, price 1.0850, USD account:
USD/JPY, 1 lot, 1:100, price 150.00, USD account: the notional value is 100,000 × 150.00 = 15,000,000 JPY, the margin is 15,000,000 ÷ 100 = 150,000 JPY, and converted at 1 ÷ 150.00 that is 1,000 USD.
Margin is not a fee; it is released when you close the trade. Keep plenty of free margin above the requirement, because floating losses use it up, and a margin call or stop-out can close positions if equity falls too far. Higher leverage lowers the margin needed but does not change what a pip is worth.
Learn how the pieces fit together in leverage and margin explained, margin calls and stop-outs and lot sizes and order types. To choose a size from your risk rather than your margin, use the position size calculator.
Required margin = (lots × contract size × price) ÷ leverage. The calculator works it out in the pair's quote currency, then converts it into your account currency at the live rate. For 1 lot of EUR/USD at 1.0850 and 1:100 leverage, that is 1,085 USD.
It means you control 100 units of exposure for every 1 unit of margin, so the margin is 1% of the position value. At 1:500 the margin is 0.2% of the position value, and at 1:30 it is about 3.33%.
One lot of gold is 100 ounces in this calculator, so the margin is 100 × the gold price ÷ leverage. At a price of 4,000 USD, 1 lot is worth 400,000 USD and needs 4,000 USD at 1:100, or 400 USD for 0.1 lot. Brokers often set their own margin rates for metals.
No. Leverage only changes the margin you put up. Your profit or loss per pip depends on your lot size, so 1 lot of EUR/USD is worth about 10 USD per pip at 1:30 or 1:500 alike. Higher leverage simply lets you open bigger positions with the same balance.
If losses push your equity close to the margin in use, your broker may send a margin call and, at its stop-out level, close positions automatically. Keeping trades small compared with your balance and using a stop-loss leaves plenty of free margin in reserve.