With leverage, you can get a much larger exposure to the market than the amount you deposited to open the trade. Leveraged products, like CFDs, magnify your potential profits and losses. Ready to start trading with leverage?
Leverage is a key feature of CFD trading and can be a powerful tool for you; however, it also comes with risks. Here’s a guide to making the most of leverage – including how it works, when it’s used and how to keep your risk in check.
Leverage in trading enables you to open a position worth much more than the money you deposit. For example, you might be able to multiply your position size by 5, 10, 20 or even 33x the amount of your initial outlay.
When trading, you’re speculating on the price movements of markets and underlying assets, rather than owning these assets outright, in the hope of making a profit. When you do this with leverage, it means that most of the capital is put up by your broker, with you putting down a deposit worth a fraction of the trade size in order to open a larger position.
Trading on stocks with leverage means you can gain exposure to a position without having to commit the full cost at the outset. The funds required to open a position – depending on the leverage ratio – represent only a fraction of its total size. There won’t be a charge for how much leverage you use – whether 5x or 20x your deposit amount.
While leverage enables you to spread your capital further, it is important to keep in mind that your profit or loss will still be calculated on the full size of your position. That means both profits and losses can be magnified compared to your outlay, and that losses can exceed deposits. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the leverage ratio and make sure that you are trading within your means.
So, for example, you may open a trade on Tesla stock worth $1000, with a deposit of $200. Your broker would put up the other $800 initially, enabling you to open a position 5x greater than your initial outlay.
Leverage works by using a deposit, known as margin, to provide you with increased exposure to an underlying asset.
Essentially, you’re gaining exposure to a position while putting down a fraction of the full value of your trade. Although you’re only paying a small percentage of the full trade’s value upfront, your total profit or loss will be calculated on the full position size, not your margin amount.
Your total exposure compared to your margin is known as the leverage ratio.
Let’s say you want to buy 1000 shares of a company at a share price of 100 cents. To open a conventional trade with a stockbroker, you’d be required to pay 1000 x 100 cents for an exposure of $1000 (not including any commission or other charges).
However, with leverage, you can pay a fraction of this cost upfront. If the margin amount was 20%, you’d pay just $200 to open a position worth $1000. Both your profits and losses would, however, be calculated on the full $1000.
If you went long on your trade and the company’s share price goes up by 40 cents, your 1000 shares are now worth 140 cents each. If you close your position, then you’d have made a $400 profit – double your initial margin amount of $200.
The reverse would be true if you went long and the share price dropped by 40 cents, you’d have made a $400 loss – double your initial amount paid. So, there’s substantial risk of losses outweighing your margin amount.
When opening unleveraged positions, such as with share trading, you’ll need to commit the full value of your position upfront. For example, let’s say you want to buy 10 shares of a company at a share price of 100 cents each. To open a conventional unleveraged trade, you’d be required to pay the full $1000 upfront.
This means more initial capital outlay, but it also caps your risk. That’s because, unlike leveraged trades, the risk of loss with unleveraged trading is equal to the amount paid to open the position.
So, if you paid $1000 to open the position, the potential for loss is also limited to the $1000 you paid for the position (excluding fees and charges). However, if the market moves in your favour, your profits can appreciate as much as the share price does.
Most leveraged trading uses derivative products, meaning you trade an instrument that takes its value from the price of the underlying asset, rather than owning the asset itself.
An agreement with a provider (like us) to exchange the difference in price of a particular financial product between the time the position is opened and when it is closed.
There are lots of ways to trade these leveraged products with us. Though they work in different ways, all have the potential to increase profit as well as loss. These include:
Some of the markets you can trade using leverage are:
Leverage ratio is a measurement of your trade’s total exposure compared to its margin requirement. Your leverage ratio will vary, depending on the market you’re trading, who you are trading it with, and the size of your position.
Using the example from earlier, a 20% margin would provide the same exposure as a $1000 investment with just $200 margin. This gives a leverage ratio of 5:1.
Often the more volatile or less liquid an underlying market, the lower the leverage on offer in order to protect your position from rapid price movements. On the other hand, extremely liquid markets, such as forex, can have particularly high leverage ratios.
Here’s how different degrees of leverage affect your exposure (and your potential for either profit or loss) in the example of an initial investment of $1000:
Unleveraged trading | Leveraged trading | ||||
1:1 | 20:1 | 50:1 | 100:1 | 200:1 | |
Outlay | $1000 | $1000 | $1000 | $1000 | $1000 |
Exposure | $1000 | $20,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 |
When researching leveraged trading providers, you might come across higher leverage ratios – but be aware, using excessive leverage can have a negative impact on your positions.
Leveraged trading can be risky as losses may exceed your initial outlay, but there are numerous risk-management tools that can be used to reduce your potential loss, including:
Attaching a stop to your position can restrict your losses if a price moves against you. However, markets move quickly and certain conditions may result in your stop not being triggered at the price you’ve set.
These work in the same way as basic stops, but will always be filled at exactly the level you’ve set, even if gapping or slippage occurs. If your stop is triggered, there will be a small premium to pay in addition to normal transaction fees.
Australian regulation ensures you cannot lose more than the equity available on your account. If your balance does go negative, we’ll bring it back up to zero at no cost to you.1
Using stops is a popular way to reduce the risk of leverage, but there are numerous other tools available – including price alerts and limit orders.
Remember, a crucial part of risk management includes always ensuring you have sufficient funds in your account. This is because your total profits to be paid to you or losses – to be paid by you – are calculated on your full position size, not your margin amount. If your account were to go into margin call, it is important to note that your positions become at risk of being automatically closed in order to reduce the margin requirement on your account.
Let’s look at an example. Say you fund your account with $800. If you open a ASX 200 position, which has a $500 margin, then your actual position size will be worth $10,000 (20x greater).
Even though you have $300 left in your account, any movement to your position is worth the full position size of $10,000. So, if the market moved against you by more than 2%, you would not have sufficient funds in your account to cover the losses and keep the position open.
This is why a key part of leveraged trading is having enough equity available in your account.
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1 Negative balance protection is not available to Pro clients.