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How to calculate margin (collateral) in the MetaTrader 4 platform? How to determine leverage by instrument?

 It should first be noted that margin requirements are expressed as a percentage in the MetaTrader's trading conditions. This is the percentage of a transaction's nominal value that will be set aside as the margin.

For example, for EURUSD, the margin requirement is 0.1% (information on each instrument's trading conditions is available in the Instrument Specification).

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 This is the percentage of the transaction's nominal value that will be held on the account as margin.

Let's look at a calculation example for this instrument.

Let's assume that we're planning to open a transaction on EURUSD at 1.18250 with a volume of 1 lot.

One lot corresponds to 100,000 units of the base currency.

Thus, the transaction's nominal value is:

1.18250 (opening price) * 100,000 (transaction volume) = $118,250

Only 0.1% of this amount, i.e., $118.25, will be reserved as margin.

 

How to determine the maximum leverage by instrument?

If necessary, the margin requirement as a percentage can be expressed in a form that many traders find familiar.

To do so, divide the margin requirement in percentage by 100.

In other words, the leverage for EURUSD is 100/0.1 = 1000. So, as a fraction, the leverage is 1/1000.

Several formulas for calculating the margin for different types of trading instruments are shown below:

For directly priced pairs like EURUSD and GBPUSD:
Collateral = Current Price * Volume/Leverage


For reverse priced pairs like USDRUB and USDJPY:
Collateral = Volume/Leverage


For cross rates like EURRUB and EURJPY:
Collateral = Current Price * Volume/Leverage/Price of currency being quoted


Calculating margin for stocks and indices:
Margin requirements in % * volume of shares * instrument volume = margin for an open position

 

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