Gold Leverage & Margin Trading Explanation & Examples
Margin required : It is the amount of money your xauusd broker requires from you to open a position. It is expressed in percentages.
Equity : It is the total amount of capital you have in your account.
Used margin : amount of money in your account which has already been used up when buying a xauusd contract, this contract is one that's displayed in the open trade positions. As a trader you can't use this amount of money after opening a trade order transaction because you have already used it & it isn't available to you.
In other words, because your xauusd broker has opened up a position for you using the capital you have borrowed, you must maintain this usable margin for your account as a security to allow you to continue using this xauusd leverage he has given you.
Free margin : amount in your account that you can use to open new trades. This is the amount of money in your account that has not yet been xauusd leveraged because you've not yet opened a transaction with this money - this money also is very important for you as a trader because it enables you to continue holding your open trades as will be explained below.
However, if you over use xauusd leverage, this free margin will drop below a certain percent at which your xauusd broker will have to close all your positions automatically, leaving you with a big loss. The xauusd broker at this point will automatically close-out all your open trade transactions because if your open trades are left open then your broker would lose money that you would have borrowed from them.
This is why you should always make sure you've a lot of free margin. To do this never trade more than 5 percentage of your gold account, in fact 2 percent is recommended.
Difference Between XAUUSD Leverage Set by the Broker & Used XAUUSD Leverage
If the set xauusd trading leverage ratio is 100:1, what it means is that you can borrow up to 100 dollars for every dollar you have in your account, but you do not have to borrow all the 100 dollars for every dollar you have you can decide you want to borrow 50:1 or 20:1. In this case though the leverage option is set at 100:1 your used gold trading leverage will be the 50:1 or 20:1 that you have borrowed to make a trade.
Example:
You have 1000 dollars (Equity)
Set 100:1
XAUUSD Leverage Used = Amount used /Equity
If you buy xauusd lots equal to 100,000 dollars you'll have used
= 100,000/1000
= 100:1
If you buy gold trading lots equal to 50,000 dollars that as a trader you'll have used
= 50,000/1000
= 50:1
If you buy gold trading lots equal to 20,000 dollars that as a trader you will have used
= 20,000/1000
= 20:1
In these 3 cases you can see that even though the set is 100:1
The used is 100:1, 50:1, 20:1 depending on the size of xauusd lots traded.
So Why not Just Select 10:1 option as the Maximum XAUUSD Leverage? Because to keep within proper risk management rules it is even recommended that traders use less than this?
This question might seem straight forward but it's not, because when you trade you use borrowed money known A.K.A. XAUUSD Leverage. When you borrow capital from anyone or a bank you must maintain a security or collateral to acquire a loan, even if the security is based on monthly deduction from your salary, the same thing with XAUUSD.
In xauusd the security is known as margin. This is capital you deposit with your broker.
This is calculated in realtime as you trade. To keep your borrowed money you must maintain what is known as required capital (your deposit).
Now if Your Gold Leverage is 100:1
When trading if you have $1,000 & use option 100:1 and buy 1 standard lot for $100,000 your margin on this transaction is $1000 dollars in your account, this is money which you will lose if your open trade goes against you the other $99,000 that is borrowed, they will close the open xauusd trade transactions automatically once your $1,000 has been taken by the gold market.
But this is if your xauusd broker has set 0% XAUUSD Margin Requirement before closing your gold trades automatically.
For 20% requirement before closing your gold trades automatically, then your trade transactions will be closed once your account balance gets to $200
For 50% requirement of this level before closing your gold trades automatically, then your trades will be closed once your account balance gets to $500
If they set 100% requirement of this level before closing out your open trade positions automatically, then your trade will be closed once your balance gets to $1,000: Meaning the trade will close-out as soon as you execute it because even if you pay 1 pips spread your account balance will get to $990 and the needed percentage is 100% i.e. 1,000 dollars, therefore your orders will immediately get closed-out.
Most brokers don't set 100% requirement, but there are those who set 100% aren't suitable for you at all, select those set 50% or 20% margin requirements, in fact, those gold brokers which set their margin requirement at 20% are some of the best because the likely hood they close-out your trade is reduced as shown in example above.
To know about this level which is calculated by your platform automatically - the MetaTrader 4 XAUUSD Platform will display this as "XAUUSD Margin Requirement", This will be displayed as a percent the higher the percent the less likely your trades are to get closed.
For Example if
Using 100:1
If xauusd leverage is 100:1 & you transact xauusd lots equal to $10,000
$10,000 dollars divide by 100:1, used capital is $100
Calculation:
= Capital Used * Percent(100)
= $1,000/$100 * Percent(100)
XAUUSD Margin Requirement = 1,000 %
Investor has 980% above required amount
Using 10:1
If xauusd leverage is 10:1 & you transact xauusd lots equal to $10,000
$10,000 dollars divide by 10:1, used capital is $1000
Calculation:
= Capital Used * Percent(100)
= $1,000/$1000 * Percent(100)
XAUUSD Margin Requirement = 100 %
Investor has 80% above required amount
Because when a trader has a higher xauusd leverage means that they have more percent above what is required(A.K.A. More "Free XAUUSD Margin") their open xauusd transactions are less likely to get closed. This is reason why traders will choose option 100:1 for their account but according to their risk management rules, these investors won't trade above 5:1.
These Levels are Shown on the Software Screen-Shot Below as an Examples:
MetaTrader 4 XAUUSD Platform
