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Create AccountLeverage Calculator
See the leverage your position is actually using, not just the setting on your account.
Your Result
The calculation runs in your browser. Rates used for currency conversion are indicative — check your broker for the exact figure.
The leverage on your account is a ceiling, not a description of your trade. A 1:500 account running a 0.01 lot position is barely leveraged at all. What matters is effective leverage — the size of the position measured against the money behind it.
This is the number that predicts trouble. Effective leverage above about 10:1 means a one percent move against you costs ten percent of the account, which is how accounts disappear in a single session.
When to use it
- Before sizing up, to see what the bigger position really commits.
- When comparing a 1:30 regulated account against a 1:500 offshore one.
- When several positions are open at once and the exposure has crept up.
- When a strategy feels riskier than the risk percentage suggests.
Position value against equity gives the leverage you are actually running.
Position Value = Contract Size × Lots × Price
Effective Leverage = Position Value ÷ Account Balance
Margin Required = Position Value ÷ Account Leverage- Account leverage decides the margin. Effective leverage decides the risk. They are different numbers and only the second one can hurt you.
- A one percent adverse move costs your effective leverage as a percentage of the account. At 20:1 that is 20% gone.
- Regulators cap retail leverage at 1:30 in Europe and Australia for exactly this reason.
One standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.0850 on a $10,000 account set to 1:100.
Working: $108,500 ÷ $10,000 = 10.85 times. The account permits 9.21 lots, but that would run effective leverage near 100:1 — a one percent move would wipe the account out. The setting allows it; sensible sizing does not.
Is high leverage dangerous by itself?
No. Leverage sets a ceiling on position size; risk comes from the size you actually take and where your stop sits. The danger is that high leverage removes the barrier that would otherwise stop you.
What effective leverage is reasonable?
Position traders often run below 3:1, day traders somewhere between 5:1 and 10:1. Above 20:1 a single ordinary daily range can take a large bite out of the account.
Why does my broker offer 1:500 when regulators cap it at 1:30?
Because they are licensed in a different jurisdiction. Offshore brokers can offer far higher leverage, but usually with weaker protections if something goes wrong.
Does leverage change my profit?
Not directly. Profit comes from the price move and the position size. Leverage only changes how much of your balance is tied up as margin to hold that size.
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