Leverage

Beginner Questions
1

I’ve been trading with a FXCM micro account where I get 400:1 leverage but trading on daily charts means that sometimes i cannot take good trades because my stop loss would mean I have to risk too much even if i buy the smallest possible amount (1k lot). Would switching to a broker offering lower leverage like 100:1 make a difference or would I need to find a broker offering me smaller lot sizes and if so can anyone suggest a good one because from what I see, 1k lots are pretty much as low as it goes :confused:

2

oanda the best broker i have ever used, they offer a 50:1 leverage and you can specify any amount of units, anything from 94,000 units to 124 units

give em a try

lee :slight_smile:

3

Leverage has nothing to do with your issue. It is, as you say, a question of position size.

4

although i agree it has nothing to do with leverage i would still very much recomend getting away from 400:1 leverage, unless of course you are an experienced scalper and can use that to your advantage but for the most of us and all newbies i would definately discourage it

lee :slight_smile:

5

I think that would compound your problem to lower your leverage, because then you will have less useable margin.

Simple solution is to add more funds to your account so you can trade the smallest position size or change brokers.

6

I use OANDA and they allow for any size of units. In fact, I did a trade off of the daily chart and when I calculated how much 2% of my account was and how many pips I could risk for my stop loss I ended up trading 75 units.

I only have a live account started with $150, learned a lot as I lost down to $40, now for three weeks I have been trading a plan (very simily to phil38 chart analysis) and only risking 2% of my account per trade, even though each pip is at best worth a penny I am learning the right way now and have increase it to over $46 in three weeks, about 15%.

7

Thanks for all the replies. Yea I basically needed a broker with more flexible lot sizes and oanda seems great for that but the charting tools are terrible (IMO) but i’m opening a live account with them anyway and using an fxcm and cms demo for my charts :slight_smile: