I have two $200 accounts with FXCM, using the MT4 platform.
I’d like to use one of the accounts to trade micro-lots.
Is there a tutorial of sorts to trade micro lots with FXCM ?
Any help or tips regarding this ?
thanks
Hi XeroFTrading,
All FXCM accounts including both your MT4 accounts will allow you to place micro lot trades. We don’t have any tutorials that are specifically about trading micro lots, because there is not much difference between trading micro lots with us or a larger trade size. All that changes is the used margin that you have to set aside and the amount of money that you are risking per pip.
For example, a standard lot trade is written as 1.00 lots on the MT4 platform. On that trade size, you’re risking about $10 per pip on most major currency pairs. By contrast, a micro lot trade is written as 0.01 lots on the MT4 platform. On that trade size you’re risking about 10 cents per pip on most major currency pairs.
A micro lot trade is 1/100th the size of a standard lot trade, so you only have to set aside 1/100th the amount of money as used margin for the position. The actually dollar amount will depend on the leverage settings of your accounts.
By default, FXCM UK and FXCM AU accounts are set to 200:1 leverage. By contrast, FXCM US accounts are limited to 50:1 leverage by CFTC regulations. That means a trader in Australia only has to set aside $5 as used margin for a USD/JPY micro lot trade, while a US trader has to set aside $20 as used margin for the same size position.
What’s more important than the used margin you set aside is how much usable margin you have left after opening the trade. Your usable margin is what’s left of your equity when you subtract your used margin. If your usable margin ever falls to zero due to trading losses, then your trades will be automatically be liquidated by a margin call to prevent further losses in your account. This is an important safety feature that is part of FXCM’s No Debit Balance Policy which means you will never be in danger of owing FXCM money due to trading losses. The only money you have at risk is the money in your trading account.
As a general rule of thumb, a good way to avoid a margin call is to have at least $100 in your trading account for each micro lot that you open. If your each of your accounts has $200 in them, then consider limiting each account to having 2 micro lot trades open in total at any given time. This will leave you with enough usable margin to maintain your open positions. For more information about this topic, please look at this discussion: 301 Moved Permanently
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks,
Jason
Thank you very much Jason.
Really appreciate your response 
It’s my pleasure!