What is Margin?

Margin is the necessary sum of money for opening or maintaining open trading positions.

When trading on the financial market you have the ability to use leverage. Leverage works like borrowed money, which means that you will have to deposit and use less of your money to open bigger volume positions.

For example if your account has the 1:500 leverage selected and you deposit $10 you will be able to trade as if your account balance is $5000.  

Leverage and margin are directly connected. When you open an order in MetaTrader while using leverage you have to put up a portion of the position's value as collateral. The amount is then “locked” in Metatrader. You do not pay this amount for opening the order but as long as the position is open you can not use this amount to open new orders. 

The margin requirements for opening orders are different according to your account type, leverage used and the instrument that you are trading. 

Check out the full list of Headway instrument specifications. 

Please note: trading with leverage provides an opportunity to earn much higher profits but likewise increases your risks. Check out this article on Margin Call.