What is required margin in forex?

Required margin is the amount of money your broker temporarily locks as collateral to keep a trade open. It is NOT a fee — it is released when you close the trade. The higher your leverage, the less margin you need per trade.

How is required margin calculated?

Required Margin = (Contract Size x Lots x Exchange Rate) / Leverage. For a USD account trading EUR/USD at 1.0850 with 1 lot and 1:100 leverage: (100,000 x 1 x 1.0850) / 100 = $1,085.

What is the difference between used margin and free margin?

Used margin is the total collateral locked across all open trades. Free margin is your account equity minus used margin — the amount available to open new trades or absorb losses before a margin call.

What happens when margin runs out?

When free margin drops to zero (or below your broker's margin call level, often 50–100%), your broker issues a margin call and may automatically close positions to prevent your balance going negative.

Does this tool store my data?

No. All calculations run entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server.

Margin Required Forex

Name: Margin Required Forex
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Enter your lot size, leverage, and currency pair to instantly see the margin required to open a forex trade.

Trade Parameters

Currency Pair

Exchange Rate (base/quote)

Lot Size (1 lot = 100,000 units)

Leverage (e.g. 100 for 1:100)

Account Currency Conversion Rate (quote → account, leave 1 if same)

Fill in the parameters on the left and click Calculate Margin.

Required Margin

—

Position Size

—

units of base currency

Notional Value

—

in quote currency

Leverage Used

—

ratio applied

Margin %

—

of notional value

Margin at Different Leverage Levels

Leverage	Margin %	Required Margin

Formula Used

Required Margin = (Lots × 100,000 × Exchange Rate) ÷ Leverage
× Account Currency Conversion Rate (if applicable)

Summary

Enter your lot size, leverage, and currency pair to instantly see the margin required to open a forex trade.

How it works

Select the currency pair (e.g., EUR/USD, GBP/JPY).
Enter the lot size — 1 standard lot = 100,000 units of the base currency.
Enter your broker leverage (e.g., 1:100).
Enter the current exchange rate for the pair.
If your account currency differs from the quote currency, enter the conversion rate.
The calculator applies: Margin = (Lot Size x Contract Size x Rate) / Leverage, then converts to your account currency.

Use cases

Check how much margin a new trade will consume before placing it.
Calculate free margin remaining after opening multiple positions.
Compare margin requirements across different leverage settings.
Plan trade size to stay within safe margin utilization limits.
Understand how exchange rate changes affect required margin.
Teach new traders how leverage and margin interact.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Last updated: 2026-05-23 · Reviewed by Nham Vu