Explain What's CFD Leverage? Explain What is CFDs Margin?

The definition of CFD Leverage is having the ability to control a big amount of money using very little of your own money and borrowing the rest - this is what makes the cfd market to attract many investors.

We shall explain cfd leverage first and then explain cfd margin in this learn how to calculate cfd leverage and margin tutorial.

Example:

We shall us this example to explain what cfd leverage is? If your cfd broker gives you cfd leverage of 100:1 (this is best option to choose as the maximum cfd leverage for any cfd account)

This means you borrow 100 dollars for every dollar you have in your cfds trading account.

To put in another way your cfd broker gives you 100 dollars for every 1 dollar in your trading account. This is what is known as cfd leverage.

This means if you open an account with $1,000 and your cfd leverage is 100:1, then you will get $100 for every $1 you that you have, the total amount which you will control is:

If for 1 dollar the broker will give you 100

Then if you have 1,000 you'll get a total of:

$1,000 * 100 = 100,000 dollars

Now you control 100,000 dollars of Investment

Most new cfd traders ask what cfd leverage is best cfd leverage for 1,000 dollars, or 2,000 dollars, or 5,000 dollars cfd account? - The best cfd leverage option to select when opening a live cfds trading account is always 100:1 & not 400:1.

What is CFDs Margin?

CFDs Margin is the amount of money required by your cfd broker so that to allow you to continue trading with borrowed amount.

In other words the question what is margin in CFD? can be explained as money required to cover open cfds trades & is expressed in percentage. For 100:1, the amount you will control is 100,000 dollars as explained in the above example.

Now can you compare someone investing $1,000 with another one that is investing $100,000? Obviously Not. This is how it works, it takes you from that retail investor investing $1,000 to that one investing $100,000. Where does this extra money originate from? : You borrow itfrom your cfd broker in what's simply referred to as CFDs Leverage. This money that you borrow, you borrow it against the $1,000 dollar of your own money which you deposit with your cfd broker. If you were to explain what this cfd leverage means - then it is the ability to control a big amount of money using very little of your own money & borrowing the rest. Otherwise, if you were trade CFD without this cfd leverage it would not be as profitable as it is, in fact you can still select not to use cfd leverage, using 1:1 trading leverage option but you would not make money and it would take too long to make any profit.

Example of how to calculate cfd leverage and margin:

CFD Margin required in this case is 1,000 dollars (your money) if it is expressed as a percentage of 100,000 dollars in your cfd account which you control it is:

If cfd leverage = 100:1

1,000 / 100,000 * 100= 1%

Margin required = 1%

(1/100 *100= 1%)

'Trade Forex Trading - Please simplify because I am Beginner'

(Simplify - your capital is $1,000 after cfd leverage you control $100,000 - $1,000 is what percent of $100,000 - it is 1%) that is your margin requirement for your cfds trading account.

The cfd margin example shown below, the set cfd leverage is 100:1, the margin which is 1% is $2683.07, therefore the total amount controlled by the trader is: $268,307 - this is because with this leverage the trader has used little of his money & borrowed the rest, with this set at 100:1, the trader is using 1 % of their capital, this 1% is equal to $2683.07, if 1% is equivalent to $2683.07 then 100% is $268,307

MetaTrader 4 Transactions Window Panel - CFDs Leverage and Margin Explained

• If = 50:1 CFD Leverage

Then margin requirement = 1/50 *100= 2 %

If you have $1,000,

1,000* 50 = $50,000.

1,000 / 50,000 * 100= 2%

(Simplify - your capital is $1,000 after cfd leverage you now control $50,000 - $1,000 is what percent of $50,000 - it's 2 %) that is your cfd margin requirement

• If = 20:1 CFDs Leverage

Then the requirement = 1/20 *100= 5%

If you have $1,000,

1,000* 20 = $20,000.

1,000 / 20,000 * 100= 5%

(Simplify - your trading capital is $1,000 after cfd leverage you now control $20,000 - $1,000 is what percent of $20,000 - it is 5 %) that is your cfd margin requirement

• If = 10:1 CFDs Leverage

Then the requirement is = 1/10 *100= 10%

If you have $1,000,

1,000* 10 = $10,000.

1,000 / 10,000 * 100= 10%

(Simplify - your trading capital is $1,000 after cfd leverage you now control $10,000 - $1,000 is what percent of $10,000 - it is 10%) that's your cfd margin requirement

What's The Difference Between Maximum CFDs Leverage and Used CFDs Leverage?

However, you should note that there's a difference between maximum cfds trading leverage ( cfd leverage given by your cfds broker which is the highest cfd leverage you can trade with if you select to) and used cfds trading leverage ( cfd leverage depending on the lots you have opened/open trades). One is the broker's (Maximum CFD Leverage) & the other is trader's (Used CFD Leverage). To explain this cfd leverage concept we shall use the cfd example above:

If your cfd broker has given you 100:1 Maximum CFD Leverage, but you only open a trade of 10,000 dollars then Used CFD Leverage is:

10,000 dollars: 1,000 dollars (your money)

10:1

Your have used 10:1 CFD Leverage, but your maximum is still 100:1 CFD Leverage. This means that even if you are given 100:1 Maximum CFD Leverage or 400:1 Maximum CFD Leverage, you do not have to use all of it. It is best to keep your used cfd leverage to a maximum of 10:1 but you'll still choose 100:1 maximum cfd leverage option for your trading account. The extra cfd leverage will give you what we call Free CFD Margin, As long as you have some Free margin on your cfd account then your trades will not get closed by your cfds broker because this margin requirement will remain above the required level.

When it comes to cfds trading one of your rules: cfds money management rules on your trading plan should be to use cfd leverage below 5:1.

In the above image example, the trader is using $2683.07, total controlled amount is $268,307, but account equity is $16,116.55, therefore used cfd leverage is ($268,307 divide by 16,116.55) = 16.64 : 1

16.64 : 1 Used CFD Leverage

CFD Margin accounts allows traders to control a large amount of cfd units using little of their own while borrowing the rest

Obtaining this cfd account will enable you to borrow money from the broker to trade cfds trading lots with.

The amount of borrowing power your account gives you what is known as ' cfd leverage", and is usually expressed as a ratio - a ratio of 100:1 trading leverage means you can control resources worth 100 times your deposit amount.

What this means in CFD terms is that with 1% margin in your cfds trading account you can control a trade worth $100,000 with a $1,000 deposit.

However, Trading this cfd account increases both potential for trading profits as well as losses. In CFD you can never lose more than you invest, losses are limited to your deposits & usually online brokers will close-out a trade which extends beyond your deposit amount by executing a margin call. CFD traders must therefore try to keep their margin requirement level above that required. By using cfd money management rules & keeping your used cfd leverage below 5:1.