XM margin calculator: what leverage of up to 1000:1 does to your margin (South Africa)
Work out margin in one line, then see how far the market can move against you before your balance is gone.
Open an FxPro account →Margin is the trade's value divided by leverage: one standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.0800 is worth $108,000, so it needs about $108 at 1000:1 and $1,080 at 100:1. Lower margin does not lower risk — a one-lot position still gains or loses about $10 for every pip, whatever the leverage.
Margin in one line
The numbers below use EUR/USD at an illustrative price of 1.0800 and a US-dollar account; swap in your own price and size.
- Margin = trade size (lots) × contract size × price ÷ leverage.
- For EUR/USD, 1 standard lot is 100,000 euros; at an illustrative price of 1.0800 the position is worth $108,000.
- At 1000:1 that position needs about $108 of margin; at 100:1 about $1,080.
- XM advertises leverage of up to 1000:1, and its client agreement lets it change leverage at any time without notice.
Margin for 1 lot of EUR/USD at an illustrative price of 1.0800
| Leverage | Position value | Margin needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1000:1 | $108,000 | $108 |
| 500:1 | $108,000 | $216 |
| 200:1 | $108,000 | $540 |
| 100:1 | $108,000 | $1,080 |
| 30:1 | $108,000 | $3,600 |
The button below opens an account with FxPro, this site’s partner broker — not with XM.
What margin is
In margin trading, the margin is the deposit your broker sets aside to keep a position open; leverage is the ratio between the position's value and that deposit. At 1000:1, every $1 of margin controls $1,000 of position.
Leverage changes the margin, not the loss per pip
On EUR/USD with a US-dollar account, 1 lot moves about $10 per pip, 0.10 lot about $1 and 0.01 lot about $0.10, whatever the leverage. With a $500 balance and one full lot open, a 50-pip move against you is roughly the whole balance.
High leverage lets that position open with very little margin, which is why small balances can disappear fast. In Retail Trader’s Ruin (2026), survival under higher CFD leverage became the binding problem for some popular rule families. CFDs magnify both gains and losses.
Working in rand
XM's account-types page quotes minimums in US dollars and says a deposit in another currency is shown as the equivalent. If you fund in rand, the dollar figures above also move with the USD/ZAR rate.
Money per pip on EUR/USD (US-dollar account)
| Trade size | Units | About per pip |
|---|---|---|
| 1 lot | 100,000 | $10 |
| 0.10 lot | 10,000 | $1 |
| 0.01 lot | 1,000 | $0.10 |
For pairs quoted in US dollars the pip value is fixed in dollars; for other pairs it moves with the exchange rate.