Out of interest, I’m looking to find out what leverage everyone typically trades with at any given time?
I personally only use 1:10 at any given time. I have 1:300 available to me but choose to stick by my rules and not go above 1:10.
I usually start off with 1:5 in my first position and if I need to add to it, I give myself breathing space to open another trade should I want to.
L
Learn to us the search button bro, it’s a traders favourite friend anywhere.
He’s a couple of links to get you started
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/73165-leverage.html
I use 1:500
I agree. But the difficulties they cause themselves tend not to arise directly from the leverage itself but because the fact that high leverage attracts them indicates that they’re people who instinctively look at trading [I]in terms of profit maximisation rather than in terms of risk-management[/I] - and that’s never going to be a recipe for long-term success.
A complete change of perspective, rather than just a reduction in leverage, is the only solution to that problem.
Infact you make the right decision, you are far away from having a margin call
I try not to use big sized leverages. 1:50, sometimes 1:100. I even can’t imagine how risky must be a person to trade with 1:1000 leverage.
Maximum acceptable is 1:200. More than that, it is easy to shift from trader to gambler, especially when you are emotional.
Maximum size is 1:500, minimum - 1:50. Somehow, people created it to usein work, to give more possibilities in trading. So why not to use it, right?
big leverage is equal to margin call
1:50 right now
Good and as long as below 1:200, I think it still can be consider healthy trading or money management.
To me leverage is immaterial. It’s just a tool to help you get in a trade with less money. If you use 1:500 leverage, it does not mean you will lose $500 for every point the market goes down.
The real question is how big a STOP LOSS you use as a percentage of your Trade Account size. Using improper percentage as your stop loss is the real killer for most traders.
I use 2% max as my risk capital for each trade that take. When I trade ES with two contracts, my stop loss is set at 2.5 points from my entry. Which means I have 2x2.5=5 points x $50=$250.
To backup this trade, set with $250 risk money, I have $12,500 in my account to keep my risk tolerance not to exceed 2%.
Think once again, is the real killer Leverage or Risk Tolerance ?
I just like 1:400. works fine for me! 
Why is it equal? Not every time. It all depends on the size of deposit.
1:50 works for me.
well I have 1:555, but my money management does not allow me to use a small portion of that.
I agree with the gambler part. Once you let your emotions to take over your judgments you are most likely going to lose everything, especially if you have higher leverage. IMO 1:200 is high enough for forex. An option for 1:400 for some of the major pairs would be great too. But what I would like more is to be able to get lower leverage like 1:20 or 1:10 for example if I want to decrease my risk.
just to clarify, 5 points is 0.5 of a pip, if so surely you get stopped out mmore often than not?
Well using highest leverage for all traders is not good. It can leads toward big loss.
It better to start with minimum leverage and increase it slowly. That’s why i mostly start trading with 1:20…
A piece od advice, if you are new to trading avoid using high leverage ratios. I personally use 1:200 and at times 1:300, but never go above 1:300.