Maintenance Margin in Forex: What It Is and How It Affects Your Trades
BY TIOmarkets
|March 22, 2026When you trade forex on margin, your broker requires you to maintain a minimum level of funds in your account relative to your open positions. If your account equity falls below a certain threshold, your broker will issue a warning or begin closing positions automatically.
Understanding how this works, what the key levels are, and how to manage your account to stay above them is an essential part of trading with leverage.
What Is Margin in Forex?
Margin is the amount of capital set aside as collateral to open and hold a leveraged position. It is not a fee or a cost. It is a deposit that your broker holds while the trade is open, to cover potential losses on that position.
When you open a trade, a portion of your account balance is allocated as margin for that position. The remaining funds in your account, above the margin requirement, are your free margin. You can use free margin to open additional positions or absorb losses on existing ones.
As your open positions move against you, your account equity falls. If it falls far enough, it reaches the point where your broker issues a margin call. If it continues to fall further, it reaches the stop out level, at which point positions are closed automatically.
What Is Maintenance Margin?
Maintenance margin refers to the minimum equity level that must be maintained in your account relative to your used margin for your positions to remain open. It is the threshold below which your broker will act, either by alerting you or by closing trades.
Different brokers express this threshold differently. Some use a fixed dollar amount. Most forex brokers, including TIOmarkets, express it as a margin level percentage. Margin level is calculated as: (equity / used margin) x 100. When this percentage falls to the margin call level, you receive a warning. When it falls to the stop out level, positions begin closing automatically.
Margin Call and Stop Out at TIOmarkets
TIOmarkets uses two specific thresholds to manage underfunded accounts.
The margin call level is set at 100% across all account types. This means that when your equity equals your used margin, that is, when your margin level reaches 100%, you will receive a margin call notification. At this point, no new positions can be opened and you are being alerted that your account equity is under pressure. You should either deposit additional funds or close some positions to restore your margin level above 100%.
The stop out level is set at 30% across all account types, with one exception. When your margin level falls to 30%, the platform will begin closing your open positions automatically, starting with the largest losing position first, until your margin level rises above the stop out threshold. The exception applies to the Standard account when using 1:2000 leverage, where the stop out level is 40% rather than 30%.
Both figures are subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements.
How Margin Level Is Calculated
Margin level is expressed as a percentage and calculated using the formula: margin level = (equity / used margin) x 100.
Equity is your account balance adjusted for any open profit or loss. If your balance is USD 1,000 and you have an open loss of USD 200, your equity is USD 800. If your used margin across all open positions is USD 500, your margin level is (800 / 500) x 100, which equals 160%.
As your open positions move against you and your equity falls, your margin level falls with it. If equity drops to USD 500, margin level reaches 100% and a margin call is triggered. If equity falls further to USD 150, margin level reaches 30% and automatic stop out begins.
This calculation applies in real time across all your open positions. Margin level reflects the current state of your account at any moment, and it changes with every pip move in the market.
The Difference Between Margin Call and Stop Out
A margin call is a warning. When your margin level reaches 100% at TIOmarkets, you are notified and prevented from opening new positions. You still have open trades, but the platform is alerting you that your equity has fallen to the level of your used margin. You have the opportunity to respond by depositing more funds or closing positions before the situation deteriorates further.
A stop out is an automatic action. When your margin level falls to 30%, the platform closes your largest losing position first. If that closure brings the margin level back above 30%, no further positions are closed. If the margin level remains at or below 30% after the first closure, the next largest losing position is closed, and so on until the margin level recovers. On the Standard account at 1:2000 leverage, this automatic closure begins at 40%.
The gap between margin call (100%) and stop out (30%) gives you a window to act before automatic closures begin. How wide that window is in practice depends on the volatility of the instruments you are trading, your position sizes, and how quickly the market moves against you.
Negative Balance Protection
TIOmarkets provides negative balance protection. This means that even if a sudden and extreme market move causes your account equity to fall below zero, your balance will not go below zero. You cannot lose more than the funds you have deposited.
How Unlimited Leverage Affects Margin Requirements
On the Standard account with MT5, TIOmarkets offers unlimited leverage, which operates differently from standard fixed leverage. Instead of a fixed margin requirement, margin scales dynamically based on your account equity.
At equity of USD 0 to USD 999, no margin is required, which corresponds to unlimited leverage. At equity of USD 1,000 to USD 2,499, a 0.05% margin applies, equivalent to 1:2000 leverage. At equity of USD 2,500 to USD 4,999, a 0.1% margin applies, equivalent to 1:1000 leverage. At equity of USD 5,000 to USD 19,999, a 0.2% margin applies, equivalent to 1:500 leverage. At equity of USD 20,000 and above, a 0.5% margin applies, equivalent to 1:200 leverage.
A 0.5% margin requirement also applies during specific periods: from 15 minutes before to 5 minutes after high-impact news announcements, and from 21:00 Friday to 01:00 Monday (MetaTrader server time). During these periods, leverage is limited to 1:200.
Only symbols with a "un" suffix in MT5 are eligible for unlimited leverage. No positive swaps are available on unlimited leverage symbols. EA trading is not compatible with the unlimited leverage feature. The unlimited leverage feature is available on the Standard account only and is not available on Raw, VIP Black, or Nano accounts.
Managing Your Account to Avoid Stop Out
Maintaining a healthy margin level is a function of position sizing, leverage use, and account monitoring. Several practical approaches help keep margin level above critical thresholds.
Keeping individual position sizes proportionate to your account equity ensures that a single adverse move does not consume a disproportionate share of your free margin. Using stop loss orders on all open positions limits the maximum loss on each trade and prevents a single position from driving your margin level to stop out.
Monitoring your margin level directly in the platform gives you a real-time view of your account's health. In MT4 and MT5, margin level is displayed in the terminal or toolbox window at the bottom of the platform, alongside balance, equity, margin, and free margin figures.
Avoiding overleveraging is the most direct way to maintain a buffer above the stop out level. The larger the gap between your equity and your used margin, the more room the market has to move against you before automatic closures begin.
Margin Requirements by Account Type at TIOmarkets
The margin call and stop out levels are consistent across all four account types at TIOmarkets. Margin call is 100% and stop out is 30% on the Nano, Standard, Raw, and VIP Black accounts. The Standard account carries a 40% stop out when using 1:2000 leverage specifically.
Per-instrument margin requirements vary. Most major and minor forex pairs carry a 1% margin requirement. Swiss Franc crosses carry a 5% margin requirement. USDCNH and USDHKD carry a 10% margin requirement. Stock CFDs carry a 5% margin requirement. Crypto CFDs carry a 10% margin requirement. Index CFDs carry a 1% margin requirement. All margin requirements are subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements.
FAQ
Risk disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Never deposit more than you are prepared to lose. Professional client’s losses can exceed their deposit. Please see our risk warning policy and seek independent professional advice if you do not fully understand. This information is not directed or intended for distribution to or use by residents of certain countries/jurisdictions including, but not limited to, USA & Countries included in the OFAC sanction list. The Company holds the right to alter the aforementioned list of countries at its own discretion.
TIOmarkets offers an exclusively execution-only service. The views expressed are for information purposes only. None of the content provided constitutes any form of investment advice. The comments are made available purely for educational and marketing purposes and do NOT constitute advice or investment recommendation (and should not be considered as such) and do not in any way constitute an invitation to acquire any financial instrument or product. TIOmarkets and its affiliates and consultants are not liable for any damages that may be caused by individual comments or statements by TIOmarkets analysis and assumes no liability with respect to the completeness and correctness of the content presented. The investor is solely responsible for the risk of his/her investment decisions. The analyses and comments presented do not include any consideration of your personal investment objectives, financial circumstances, or needs. The content has not been prepared in accordance with any legal requirements for financial analysis and must, therefore, be viewed by the reader as marketing information. TIOmarkets prohibits duplication or publication without explicit approval.
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