Forex Brokers With Low Margin Requirements

Margin is the part of your balance a broker sets aside while a trade is open. The lower the margin requirement, the smaller the deposit you need to open the same position. This page compares the margin requirements of seven international brokers across forex, gold, indices, oil, crypto and stock CFDs, so you can see where each one is lowest and what conditions apply.

All figures are the maximum leverage and minimum margin published for each broker's international entity. They are not fixed promises. Margin rises as your equity grows, as your position gets bigger, and around news, rollover and weekends. Always confirm the live figure in your trading platform before you open a trade.

Lowest Margin Requirements at a Glance

Each cell shows the lowest standard margin requirement on forex majors and gold, with the matching maximum leverage in brackets. These figures apply to small accounts and small positions.

Broker	Forex majors	Gold	Stop out	Visit
Exness	0.05% (1:2000), unlimited if eligible	0.05% (1:2000), unlimited if eligible	0% (Standard)	Visit Exness Your capital is at risk.
HFM	0.05% (1:2000), unlimited on InfinityX	0.05% (1:2000), unlimited on InfinityX	20% (Premium, Pro, Zero), 0% (InfinityX)	Visit HFM Your capital is at risk.
IC	0.02% (1:5000)	0.05% (1:2000)	50%	Visit IC Your capital is at risk.
FBS	0.033% (1:3000)	0.2% (1:500)	20%	Visit FBS Your capital is at risk.
RoboForex	0.05% (1:2000)	0.05% (1:2000)	40% (Pro), 30% (ProCent)	Visit RoboForex Your capital is at risk.
Vantage	0.05% (1:2000), unlimited on Premium Unlimited	0.2% (1:500), unlimited on Premium Unlimited	20% (STP, ECN), 0% (Premium Unlimited)	Visit Vantage Your capital is at risk.
XM	0.1% (1:1000)	0.1% (1:1000)	20%	Visit XM Your capital is at risk.

Trading forex and CFDs involves a high risk of losing money and may not be suitable for all investors, so trade responsibly.

Partner codes: a partner code is a short code you type into the registration form when you open a new account with a broker. It links your account to TradingBeasts, and with some brokers it also gives you extra benefits, which each partner code guide explains. Our codes are Exness i5i10zputd, IC 92426, RoboForex robowelcome, Vantage WELCOMEVANTAGE and XM REBATES30.

Other asset classes: margins for stock indices, oil and energies, crypto CFDs and stock CFDs are compared in their own sections below.

A low margin requirement is not a discount. It only means less of your balance is locked per trade, which lets you open bigger positions. Bigger positions mean bigger losses when the market moves against you, so read the risk section below before you use any of these figures.

How Margin and Leverage Work

Margin and leverage are two ways of writing the same number. The margin requirement is 1 divided by the leverage: 1:100 leverage is a 1% margin, 1:500 is 0.2%, 1:1000 is 0.1% and 1:2000 is 0.05%. Higher leverage means a lower margin, not a higher one.

Required margin = Position value / Leverage

For a position worth $100,000, the margin you need is:

Margin is not a fee. It is part of your own money, held aside while the trade is open and released when you close it. Your trading costs are the spread, any commission and any overnight swap, and these do not change with your margin.

The number to watch while trading is your margin level:

Margin level = Equity / Used margin × 100%

When losses push the margin level down to the broker's margin call level, you get a warning. If it keeps falling to the stop out level, the broker starts closing your positions, usually the biggest loser first.

Lowest Margin on Forex Pairs

Forex majors carry the lowest margin at every broker on this list. The catch is that the headline figure applies only to small accounts or small positions.

Lowest here: IC has the lowest fixed forex margin at 0.02%, while Exness, HFM and Vantage go further with unlimited leverage on eligible accounts.

On paper, IC and FBS have the lowest fixed figures and Exness goes furthest with unlimited leverage. In practice, the FBS 1:3000 tier ends once your equity reaches $200, and the IC 1:5000 tier covers only the first 25 lots. Exotic pairs usually carry higher margin than majors at every broker.

Lowest Margin on Gold and Other Metals

Gold is where margin differences matter most for many traders, because gold moves more per day than most currency pairs.

Lowest here: 0.05% at Exness, HFM, IC and RoboForex. Exness, the HFM InfinityX account and the Vantage Premium Unlimited account go lower on eligible accounts.

At 1:2000, one lot of gold (100 ounces) needs margin of 0.05% of its value. That also means a gold move of just 0.05% against a fully used position wipes out the margin behind it, and gold can move that much in seconds.

Lowest Margin on Stock Indices

Lowest here: HFM at 0.1% on USA30, USA100, USA500 and GER40.

Lowest Margin on Oil and Energies

Lowest here: 0.2% at IC, HFM and Vantage, while Exness now applies your account leverage to energies.

Other commodities usually carry lower leverage than oil. XM, for example, caps agricultural commodities such as wheat, corn, coffee, cocoa, sugar and soybeans, as well as copper, at 1:50, a 2% margin.

Lowest Margin on Crypto CFDs

Crypto margin varies more than any other asset class, from close to zero at one broker to not offered at another. Crypto also moves several percent in a day, which makes very high leverage on it especially dangerous.

Lowest here: HFM and XM at 0.1% (1:1000) on small Bitcoin positions, and Exness with unlimited leverage on eligible pairs.

Lowest Margin on Stock CFDs

Single stocks gap on earnings and at the open, so brokers keep their margin much higher than on forex or gold.

Lowest here: FBS at 1% (1:100) on all stocks.

When Margin Requirements Go Up

The figures above are the best case. Every broker on this list raises margin in certain situations, and some also recalculate positions that are already open.

Account equity. As your equity grows, maximum leverage steps down. FBS starts reducing it from $200, Exness, HFM and the Vantage Premium Unlimited account from $5,000, RoboForex from $10,000 and XM above $40,000. On HFM InfinityX, positions beyond the 5 lot limit fall back to these equity based steps.

Position size. IC applies tiered leverage, so each part of a large position is charged at its own rate. HFM and XM also lower leverage on larger crypto positions.

Economic news. Exness applies higher margin to orders opened from 15 minutes before to 90 seconds after a high impact release. IC caps forex at 1:200 from 15 minutes before to 1 minute after major news. HFM lowers the maximum on new positions from 1:2000 or 1:1000 to 1:300 from 15 minutes before to 5 minutes after. Vantage fixes leverage on new Premium Unlimited positions over the same window.

Rollover and weekends. IC applies higher margin 30 minutes before the daily close and 15 minutes after the open, and from 1 hour before the Friday close until 30 minutes after the Monday open. HFM applies the same 1:300 limit within 1 hour of the daily forex rollover and of market opens and closes on gold and indices, and caps new positions at 1:100 to 1:200 in the first hour after the Monday open and the last hour before the Friday close. RoboForex reduces 1:2000 accounts to 1:1000 from 11:00 PM Friday to 1:00 AM Saturday (EET). Exness also raises margin around weekends, holidays and other market breaks.

If your free margin is thin when one of these periods starts, a higher requirement can push your margin level towards stop out without the price moving at all.

Margin Call and Stop Out Levels

A low stop out level is not automatically better. A 0% stop out lets a losing position run until almost all of your equity is gone. A higher stop out closes positions earlier and leaves more of your balance intact, but it also gives a losing trade less room. Choose based on how much of the account you are prepared to lose.

Why UK, EEA and Australian Traders See Different Numbers

In the UK, the European Economic Area and Australia, retail margin is set by the regulator, not the broker. Every broker regulated there gives retail clients the same caps:

Because these limits are identical across brokers, there is nothing to compare for retail traders in those regions. The figures on this page come from each broker's international entity. Clients of a broker's Australian entity get the regulated caps above, and this page is not intended for UK or EEA residents.

For brokers regulated in Europe, see our list of the best forex brokers in Europe.

The Risks of Low Margin and High Leverage

High leverage is a two edged sword. A low margin requirement makes it easy to open a position that is far too large for your account, and the same leverage that multiplies a gain multiplies a loss at exactly the same rate.

Take a $1,000 account that uses its full balance as margin at 1:1000. That opens a $1,000,000 position. A 0.1% move against it, about 11 pips on EUR/USD, costs $1,000, which is the entire account. Moves of that size happen many times a week. At 1:2000 the same account is gone after a 0.05% move.

Low margin also leaves you exposed to things you cannot control:

• Gaps. Prices can open well away from the last close after a weekend or major news, skipping straight past your stop loss and your broker's stop out level.
• Sudden margin increases. Higher margin around news and weekends can trigger a stop out on an account that looked safe minutes earlier.
• Spread widening. Spreads often widen at the daily rollover and around news, which reduces equity on every open position at once.

You Do Not Have to Use the Maximum Leverage

The maximum leverage a broker offers is a limit, not a setting you have to use. Every broker on this list lets you choose your own account leverage on its standard accounts, usually in the client area or app, and change it later. The higher the leverage you choose, the higher the risk you take on.

Choosing a lower leverage caps how big your positions can get. At 1:100, a $1,000 account can open at most a $100,000 position. At 1:2000, the same account can open a position worth $2,000,000 and lose everything after a 0.05% move. A lower setting makes it much harder to open a position that is far too large by mistake or in a moment of overconfidence.

Leverage on its own does not decide how much a single trade can lose, though. That depends on your position size and your stop loss. If you keep the same position size and lower your leverage, the trade uses more margin, so your margin level falls faster and a stop out can come sooner. The safest approach is to choose a moderate leverage and also size each trade by how much you would lose if your stop loss is hit, keeping enough free margin to survive normal market moves.

Keep in mind that instruments with fixed margin, such as indices at Exness or metals at FBS, use their own fixed rate whatever leverage you set on the account.

How to Check the Margin Before You Open a Trade

1. Check which entity holds your account. Leverage depends on the broker entity you register with, so the figures on this page apply only to the international entities.
2. Check the instrument's contract specification. Some instruments use fixed margin that ignores your account leverage setting, such as indices at Exness or metals at FBS.
3. Set your own account leverage. Choose a leverage level you are comfortable with in the client area rather than leaving it at the maximum. Higher leverage means higher risk.
4. Check your equity tier. Compare your current equity with the broker's leverage steps, especially after a deposit or a profitable run.
5. Check the economic calendar. Avoid opening large positions just before high impact news or the weekend close, when margin requirements rise.
6. Read the margin in the order window. The platform shows the actual margin for your order before you confirm it, which is the figure that counts.

For a ranking by maximum leverage rather than margin per asset, see our list of the highest leverage forex brokers.

Frequently Asked Questions