What is leverage and how to trade with it?

People who are engaged in trading in the financial market grapple with such terms as leverage. However, for many reasons, not all investors fully understand what is leverage, what is the necessity of it, and how to successfully apply leverage in trading. This article helps you to figure out a full concept of leverage and its right implementation.

Leverage refers to the use of borrowed capital as a source of investment financing in order to increase assets and generate higher returns. There are no limits in the volume of the borrowed sum. The loan amount can exceed the amount of the trader's deposit by 10, 20, 100, or more times. The leverage works like the law of physics: as a lever, enables the traders to enter into transactions that they would not be able to do with their own funds only.

Leverage is a service that brokerage firms provide, as a loan in the form of cash or securities for a trader to close a deal. The leverage size is the ratio of the trader's own funds to the loan amount (1: 100, 1: 1000). For example, if this indicator is 1: 500, then the broker provides a loan amount 500 times the investor's deposit.

The term of leverage can frighten off many, but in fact, there is nothing wrong with this concept. Leverage is not a loan in the usual sense of the word, no interest is charged for use. The funds are not credited to the trader's account, they go straight to the deal. If the deal is unprofitable, and the trader's personal funds decrease to a certain critical figure, it is closed. When the transaction positions are transferred to the next day, a fee is charged from the account in the amount of the difference in interest rates on the loan and the deposit - the so-called swap, which can be considered an analog of the fee for using leverage.

Working principle of leverage trading

Leverage is a financial instrument that allows you to make large transactions and get good profits even on small deposits with a competent approach. In order to use this tool correctly, you can follow these simple guidelines:

focus on your own deposit and take into account the risks based on the available amount;
use a small amount of borrowed funds, which will not allow you to get deprived of all your deposit at once;
for any leverage, never trade the entire deposit;
set Stop-loss levels, it will help reduce risks.

One easy way to find out how leverage works when trading the financial markets is to compare it to the mortgage provided by the bank to buy your home. When you take out a mortgage, your bank lends you a certain amount of money so that, by adding your personal funds, you can buy the home you want.

Financial leverage

Through financial leverage, you borrow money, invest, and try to increase your profits through higher purchasing power. The term "financial leverage" refers to the use of borrowed funds to buy assets. It is used in order not to spend too much of your own money.

After you pay off the sum you have borrowed, you still have more money left than if you invested only your capital. In relation to Forex trading and the world of financial markets, financial leverage is mainly used for the following purposes:

to increase your potential profit;
to expand the asset base of a company and generate returns on venture capital;
for more favorable tax treatment, since in many countries, interest income can be deducted from taxes.

Operating leverage

Financial leverage is very stand out from operating leverage. The operating leverage per business unit is rated as the total fixed costs it incurs, and the higher the fixed costs, the higher the operating leverage. Combine both and we have a complete leverage.

What does business leverage actually mean and what's it for? It is the use of external funds to expand, launch, or acquire assets. Companies can also use leveraged capital to raise funds from existing investors.

If the cost of borrowing is low, leveraged capital can increase returns for shareholders. When you own shares in a company that has significant leverage, you have leveraged equity. It makes the same allowance for risk as using leverage. If the cost of borrowing is low, leveraged capital can increase returns for shareholders. When you own shares in a company that has significant leverage, you have leveraged equity.

How is leverage calculated?

One of the most difficult questions for newbie traders and investors is how to calculate leverage in the financial markets. There is a simple formula for calculating the leverage - Position Size / Your Equity.

As soon as the position is open in the market, the volume of leverage can change depending on your capital. If this position is profitable, then your leverage level decreases, but if it is an unprofitable one, your leverage level increases. The more leverage, the more free funds (margin) will be on your trading account. There are many kinds of trading calculators so you can quickly calculate the required margin and leverage for your positions.

What is leverage in forex?

When you trade using leverage, you are operating a lot of capital with a relatively small deposit in your account. You can start with a minimal deposit with a financial broker and then borrow money from them to open a larger position. The trader analyzes the market and sees a rewarding strategy that should turn out to be profitable. The trader gives the broker collateral and asks for leverage for transactions with the asset. After completing the operation, the trader fixes the profit/loss and settle with the broker.

Leverage in the stock market performs the role of a small fraction of capital when traders operate stocks. The same principle applies if you use Forex leverage, that is you can open larger positions in currency pairs than your account balance allows you. Using leverage does not reduce the potential profit from a trade, it just reduces the amount of capital you use.

The importance of using leverage in forex trading

The accessibility of leverage is one of the most popular reasons traders choose to use it in the forex market. When you visit trading sites, you can see lots of banners offering trading from 0.01 lot, ECN, and 1: 500 leverage. While not all of these terms may be fully understood for a beginner, the question of what leverage is seems to be the most common one.

Many traders think that leverage is a kind of loan that a broker provides to its clients. This is not true as leverage has no credit characteristics. The broker does not mean to take your money over when you are trading with leverage. You just need to close your position or leave it open before it is closed with a stop out after a margin call. In other words, there is no specific deadline for calculating the leverage provided by the broker.

There is no leverage interest. Instead, currency swaps are usually withdrawn to transfer the position to the next trading day. However, unlike conventional loans, on which interest is always owed to the bank, swap payments can also benefit the trader.

Pros and cons of leverage trading

For many traders who do not have their own significant capital, leverage has become a kind of support. As with its help, they can get access to severe deals and have the possibility to gain. At first glance, this financial instrument has only one advantage:

allows you to conclude bigger transactions and get profit;
provides beginners with the opportunity to increase their own deposit;
allows traders to place deals that exceed their financial capabilities.

Nevertheless, there are disadvantages using borrowed funds:

high potential returns are directly proportional to the same high risks;
perceiving a loan as real money, a trader does not learn to manage capital but focuses only on the size of the transaction.

Leverage allows traders to increase their possible return. However, remember that this can increase the size of your losses.

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