Hello fellow traders! I have a qiestion, I’ve read about leverage and have planty of doubts regarding it. What is the difference between 1:200 and 200:1 is it the same? and i.e. I open an account with $100, how will the leverage help me?
Thank you for tou answers, and have a happy trading!
Chances are, there is no difference between 1:200 and 200:1 in terms of what people are trying to express, meaning both are meant to express the ability to trade a position 200 times the size of your account balance and only requiring 0.5% for margin on a open position.
If you’d allow an opinion. If you right now don’t know how leverage works, use a demo account to get more practice. If you want to invest $100, then ONLY with 0.01 lotsize or even better less. 0.001 lotsize would be a great start. 
Great, thank you!
Yeah! I’m actually running a demo already. The question was that i.e. if I deposit $100 1:200 leverage that means I can trade a 200k lot? or teo 100k lots?
Apparently, you tried to multiply $100 x 200 and you got $200,000 for your answer. I hope you can see your error.
[B]Maximum allowable leverage offered by your broker should not determine your position size.
Attempting to use maximum allowable leverage is a recipe for disaster.[/B]
If you have a $100 balance in your account, you should be thinking in terms of 1K as a maximum position size, provided this position size and your stop-loss do not expose you to more than 2%-3% risk.
The big advantage to having large maximum allowable leverage is that only a small portion of your account balance is tied up in margin for the duration of your trade.
In the case of a $100 account, maximum allowable leverage of 200:1, and a 1K position size, your broker would be “holding” only $5 of your account as margin, leaving $95 free for your use (including covering any losses which might occur in your position).
If your broker’s maximum allowable leverage is 100:1, then margin on a 1K position would be $10, leaving you (temporarily) with $90 to work with.
If the CFTC has their way, and restricts U.S. accounts to 10:1 leverage, then margin on a 1K position would be $100 — your entire account balance — and you’d be right back to the [B]recipe for disaster[/B] mentioned above.
Clint
Neither. 200,000$ / 200 = 1,000 usd minimum. Plus something to keep your account alive. No broker I know would let you run to zero free margin. Margin calls set in if your free margin shrinks below a level of x%. Find that out. Oh, and I would not even calculate until the last penny. A simple calculation round error and your account is blown. Not to speak out, that if your trade goes 1 pip against you (isn’t that already done via spread?), your account rest in pieces, too.
Jump from a bridge, that’s safer! Well, just kidding. 
So basically, in this case, being margin $5 for a position, and free margin $95, I can still take 19 more positions with $5 margin? What is the limit so the brokers assures I still have money to cover my possible losses?
Thank you Clint 
Your margin IS the limit. Once you use it all up you cannot take on any more positions. And if losses cause your account to fall below the position margin requirements you will be closed out.