Margin and leverage calculator
Required margin is the amount the broker locks to keep a position open: notional value divided by leverage. With 1 lot of EURUSD at 1.10 and 1:100 leverage, the notional is 110,000 and the margin is 1,100 dollars. Margin level is equity divided by that margin, as a percentage.
Enter the volume, units per lot, the base currency price in account currency, the leverage and the equity. The calculator returns the notional, the required margin, the margin level and the free margin after opening the position.
To go deeper into each part of this calculation: Margin · Leverage · Margin call
What this calculator solves
Leverage does not change a trade's risk — the stop defines risk. What leverage changes is how much capital is tied up as margin and, therefore, how much is left for everything else. An account that opens positions until free margin nears zero is one small adverse move away from forced liquidation.
The calculator exists to answer before the order: how much this position ties up, what margin level the account ends at, and how much still fits.
How the calculation works
Notional = lots × units per lot × base currency price in account currency. On EURUSD with a dollar account, the price is the quote itself. On EURGBP with a dollar account, it is the EURUSD rate, because the base is the euro.
Required margin = notional ÷ leverage. At 1:100 it ties up 1% of the notional; at 1:30, 3.33%; at 1:500, 0.2%.
Margin level = equity ÷ required margin × 100. Free margin = equity − required margin. Brokers usually warn (margin call) around 100% and liquidate (stop out) between 20% and 50% — the exact number is in your broker's agreement.
Full example
5,000-dollar account, 1 lot of EURUSD at 1.10, 1:100 leverage. Notional: 1 × 100,000 × 1.10 = 110,000. Required margin: 110,000 ÷ 100 = 1,100. Margin level: 5,000 ÷ 1,100 = 454%. Free margin: 3,900.
With the same position at 1:30, margin rises to 3,667, the level falls to 136% and free margin to 1,333. The trade is identical; the distance to forced liquidation is what changed.
After the calculation
Margin is a silent limit: it does not show up as a rule, but it closes positions all the same. TCC shows used margin and margin level for every registered account next to drawdown, so a live account gets the same early warning as a funded one.
FAQ
Does higher leverage increase risk?
Not by itself: risk comes from volume and stop. Higher leverage ties up less margin for the same volume — and it is the ease of opening too much volume that raises risk.
What is margin level?
Equity divided by required margin, as a percentage. Below the broker's stop-out level, positions are force-closed.