What is Leverage in Forex?

Posted: 12 Feb 2008 | Categories: Currency Trading

The forex deals are accomplished in lots and each lot consists of 100,000 units of any particular foreign currency, to purchase one single lot of foreign exchange a lot of investment is required and that may run into hundreds of thousands of dollars which means the small investors are left out of the fray. For this very purpose the concept of leverage was introduced in the forex trade. Leverage backed with credit, such as a margin account is very common in Forex trade. The leverage account in which Forex can be purchased for a combination of cash or collateral, what the broker accepts is quite popular with the forex traders. Usually the leverage in the margined account is collateralized by the initial deposit made by you in that account, if the value of the trade goes down significantly then the broker may ask you to either deposit more cash, or sell a portion of your holding.

Margin requirements and interest vary among broker/dealers. The amount of leverage you use will depend on your broker and what you feel comfortable with. You can get leverage from a high as 1% with some brokers. This means you can control $100,000 with the investment of only $1,000. The broker sets a minimum account size also known as account margin or initial investment. Once you have deposited the required sum you will be able to trade in the forex market. The minimum security for each lot usually varies from broker to broker. While with the brokers you should be well aware of the Margin call. Suppose for any reason, if the broker thinks that your holdings are in danger and your losses are approaching your margin quite fast. He may ask you to deposit more money, or dispose your holding of the forex lots to limit your risk and his risk.

Another term is quite relevant in this connection and that is variation margin. Variation Margin is also very important and it is the amount of profit or loss your account is showing on the holdings of the forex lots. There is one more point to keep in the mind is that some brokers require a higher margin during the weekends. It all depends on your broker. The leverage accounts in the forex market have actually made the life easy for the small investors. These leverage accounts helps the small investors to buy the big lots of the foreign currencies and in turn allow them to earn handsome profits. They also act as the alarm bell for the unaware investor while making any loosing proposition and in case of the loss it restricts the amount of the loss of the investor to a bearable limit of the initial investment.

The online forex market has further reduced the requirement of the margin amount to a great extent and it is now reduced to couple of hundred dollars from the initial hundreds of thousands dollars. The small investor in a forex market can earn handsomely due to the presence of the leverage accounts in the online forex market. The effect of the leverage accounts actually enables the small investor to earn huge returns like if he invests $300 on 1% leverage he gets to operate the forex of $30,000. The forex moves from 0.5 to 1.5% at the maximum on daily basis and the earnings if taken on your own investment of $300 make it quite a negligible sum but the leverage provides the magical touch to it and it becomes 100 times and now the amount interests you and attracts you. The leverage is the key to make this forex trade lucrative for the investors in true sense and till it is there it will continue to attract thousands and thousands of people towards the forex trade.

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Article Author :Murtaza_Khan