Forex Margin Calculator
Margin is the collateral required for a leveraged position. Enter contract units, the base-to-quote price, quote-to-account rate and leverage to estimate the new position’s margin and notional value. Add account equity and current used margin to check free margin and a user-defined close-out level. Broker rules and changing equity can produce different requirements.
The calculator is loading. If it does not appear, enable JavaScript and reload this page.
Formula: Account-currency notional = Lots × Contract units × Base-to-quote price × Quote-to-account rate; Margin = Notional ÷ Leverage. The account checks use your entered equity, total used margin and close-out threshold. A simple leverage model does not reproduce broker tiers, hedging offsets or intraday rule changes. Verify the actual instrument requirements with your broker.
How the margin calculator works
Every leveraged position has two numbers: its notional value – the full size of what you control – and the margin, the slice of your own capital the broker freezes as collateral. The notional value is simply the number of lots multiplied by the contract size and the current price, converted into your account currency. Divide that notional by your leverage ratio and you have the margin required to open the trade.
The price field is the instrument’s base-to-quote price, such as EUR/USD 1.10. The separate exchange-rate field converts one unit of the quote currency into your account currency. On a USD account trading EUR/USD, enter the EUR/USD price and a conversion rate of 1. On an EUR account, keep the EUR/USD price and use its inverse as the USD-to-EUR conversion rate.
Worked example
One standard lot of EUR/USD: contract size 100,000, price 1.10, leverage 1:100. Notional = 1 × 100,000 × 1.10 = $110,000. Margin = 110,000 ÷ 100 = $1,100. Drop the leverage to the ESMA cap of 1:30 and the same trade ties up 110,000 ÷ 30 = $3,667 instead.
Why leverage does not change your risk
Higher leverage lowers the margin locked, not the money you can lose – a 50-pip adverse move costs the same dollars whether you posted 1:30 or 1:500 of margin. Leverage only changes how many positions you could open at once, which is exactly why it tempts traders to over-size. Understand the mechanics in Leverage and margin explained and keep size sane with position sizing models.
Frequently asked questions
What price should I enter?
Why is the ESMA cap 1:30?
Does more leverage mean more risk?
Conversion and whole-account margin
The form uses the base-to-quote price and a separate quote-to-account exchange rate. For one EUR/USD lot, a 100,000-unit contract, price 1.10, USD/PLN 4.00 and leverage 30:1, notional is 440,000 PLN and margin is 14,666.67 PLN. The equivalent shortcut uses EUR/PLN 4.40 directly; do not enter that as the EUR/USD price and convert it again. With equity of 10,000 PLN and used margin of 1,000 PLN, current margin level is 1,000% and free margin is 9,000 PLN. The example new position would exceed that free margin. The entered close-out threshold is your assumption: applicable protections depend on instrument, jurisdiction and client category. Closing a position releases its margin requirement, but realised losses and costs reduce equity.
