Forex Margin Required Calculator
Find the margin a leveraged forex trade ties up: enter trade size, price and leverage to get the required margin and the effective margin percentage.
How it works
Notional = trade size × price · Margin = notional ÷ leverage · Margin % = 1 ÷ leverage × 100
Margin is the good-faith deposit your broker holds against a leveraged position; it is the notional value of the trade divided by the leverage ratio. Higher leverage frees up more of your balance but shrinks the buffer before a margin call. The margin percentage is simply the reciprocal of leverage, so 30:1 leverage requires 3.33% margin.
Worked example
A 100,000-unit position at a price of 1.1000 has a notional value of $110,000. At 30:1 leverage the required margin is 110,000 ÷ 30 = $3,666.67, which is 1 ÷ 30 = 3.33% of the notional.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between margin and leverage?
Leverage is the ratio of position size to the capital you post; margin is the actual amount posted. They are two views of the same relationship — 30:1 leverage is the same as a 3.33% margin requirement.
Does higher leverage increase my risk?
Leverage does not change the price risk of the position itself, but it lets you control a far larger notional value per dollar of margin, so the same price move is a much larger percentage of your deposited capital and can trigger a margin call faster.
Is this the same as used margin?
Yes — this is the margin locked up (used margin) for the single position. Your free margin is your account equity minus the used margin across all open trades.
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Educational estimate, not investment advice. Trading forex, futures and options carries substantial risk of loss.