Trading Terms

What is Margin? What’s a 'Margin Call'?

Skilling Writers Team
2022-03-22
- Education
- Trading
- Technical Analysis

What is Margin? And what’s a 'Margin Call'?

In simple terms, Margin is the amount of money you need to open a trade. When you make a trade with Skilling you don’t have to cover the full cost of the trade. Instead, we'll only ask for a small part, known as a 'Margin'. This is one of the big benefits of trading with an FX broker such as Skilling, and it varies depending on the instrument you are trading but typically ranges between 1% and 33%

Example:
You would like to Buy 1,000 units EUR/USD. Since the maximum leverage is x30, then the margin needed for this position is ~33 € ( 1,000/30 ).

You can see how much Margin is needed for the trade, as this is shown on the trade tickets that pop up immediately prior to you executing.

Okay, so what’s a Margin Call?

A Margin Call is a notification stating that the necessary funds in order to keep a position(s) on the account open, are running low. So, it’s a way of alerting you to a possible shortfall in your account in case you were unaware.

This typically happens when a position is going against you and the initial Margin is no longer enough to maintain the position. Either you should top up your account, or start closing the position(s) - or in a worst case the broker will close them for you.

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How can I avoid a Margin Call?

There are a number of things you can do to avoid Margin Calls:

Use stop loss orders.: This will prevent losses ‘running wild’.
Monitor your open positions frequently.: Markets can be volatile so you check in on your open trades as often as you can to make sure you aren’t accumulating any unforeseen losses.
Cut your losses.: If you’ve invested a lot of time, effort and money into a trade it can seem hard to walk away – but sometimes that’s exactly what you must do. As they say on Wall Street, 'cut your losses and let your profits run'
Manage your risks.