This shouldn’t be very difficult, but I’m having some problems getting it right. I think the leverage on the account is 1:20 (but I can’t find any way to verify this in MT4)
I bought EUR/USD (volume: 0.5) @ 1.21887 using Mt4 on a demo account at FXCM. It used [B]$350 margin[/B].
I closed that position and later:
I sold EUR/USD (volume: 1) @ 1.21883. It used [B]$700 margin[/B].
[I]How does that work?[/I]
I’ve tried various websites that say how to calculate margin and I can never match the numbers the exchange is giving me. Can someone help me out?
If you look at the senior year in Pipschool under “The number 1 cause of failure” or something along those lines, there is a great explanation of leverage and margin.
Your broker should provide you with a margin calculator. Otherwise as eddies suggested check out the school here. You can ask your broker what your leverage is and it should state it in your backoffice as well.
Hover with your mouse over your account number in MT4 Navigator panel on the left side…it should pop up with the leverage available for that account no.
That did the trick. The reason my numbers never worked out is that my broker picks an amount and only updates it occasionally.
[I]We believe that margin requirements will not change more than once a month. See the table below for margin requirements on an FXCM LLC Account using a 1K lot size. Up-to-date margin requirements are displayed in the “Simplified Dealing Rates” window of the Trading Platform by currency pair.[/I]
Looks like I am late to post a reply but glad it all worked out and yes, learning the ropes on MT platform can take a while …feel free to post any additional queries and good luck…