Leverage is the ratio between a client’s own funds and the borrowed funds provided by the broker.
For example, a leverage of 1:100 means that to execute a transaction, the client’s account balance has to be 100 times smaller than the total transaction amount.
Let’s take a look at another example:
If a client selects leverage of 1:500 and has €200 on their account, this leverage enables them to buy a contract worth €100,000. The margin required for the transaction is calculated as €100,000 ÷ 500 = €200, corresponding to the funds available in the client’s account.
Alternatively, if the account leverage is set to 1:1 (no leverage), the client would need the full €100,000 in their account to buy a contract worth €100,000 (€100,000 ÷ 1 = €100,000).
Leverage varies depending on the account type and the trading instrument. You can review the available leverage for each account type here.
If a specific instrument has fixed leverage, it can be found in the ‘Fixed leverage’ column of the Contract Specifications.