Leverage allows you to control larger positions with a smaller investment. It's the ratio between your balance and the borrowed capital provided by the broker. Higher leverage can amplify both potential profits and possible losses.
How your leverage is calculated depends on the platform you trade on.
Leverage on MT5 and the Doto platform
On MT5 and the Doto platform, leverage is floating: it depends on the instrument and your total trade amount — the USD notional value of all your open positions in that instrument. Floating leverage applies to more than 200 trading instruments and does not depend on your account balance.
The trade amount is divided into steps, and each step has its own maximum leverage. Smaller positions receive the highest leverage. As your exposure grows, only the additional amount moves to the next step with lower leverage — not your entire position.
Maximum leverage by instrument type: 📊
Forex majors: up to 1000x
Forex minors: up to 500x
Forex exotics: up to 100x
Gold: up to 1000x
Oil: up to 400x
Silver: up to 200x
Indices: up to 500x
Cryptocurrencies: up to 500x (depending on the instrument)
Stocks and ETFs: up to 50x
Maximum leverage applies to the first step — the smallest trade amounts.
The exact steps and leverage for each instrument are shown in the Instrument Overview: open the instrument in the platform to see the full list of margin steps, your current leverage, and your trade amount, all updating in real time.
💡 Example:
Leverage steps for XAUUSD (Gold):
Trade amount (USD) | Maximum leverage |
0 – 10,000 | 1000x |
10,000 – 200,000 | 500x |
200,000 – 700,000 | 200x |
700,000 – 2,000,000 | 100x |
2,000,000 – 7,000,000 | 50x |
7,000,000 – 15,000,000 | 25x |
Above 15,000,000 | 10x |
Margin is calculated separately for each step and then added together. For a detailed breakdown with calculations, see the Floating leverage article.
Leverage on MT4
On MT4, leverage is fixed and depends on the instrument type and your account balance. It does not depend on trade volume or trading conditions.
On Forex instruments, you can adjust leverage manually. For other asset types, leverage is fixed.
By instrument type: 📊
Forex: up to 500x
Forex exotics: 20x
Commodities: 100x
Indices: 200x
Cryptocurrencies: up to 100x
By your account balance: 💰
< 9,999.99 USD → 500x
10,000 – < 19,999.99 USD → 200x
20,000 – < 29,999.99 USD → 100x
30,000 – < 49,999.99 USD → 50x
≥ 50,000 USD → 10x
🔔 Important note:
If your balance increases to the next threshold, the already selected leverage remains unchanged, even if it exceeds the new maximum.
💡 Example:
If you start trading with 500x leverage and a balance of $9,000, and later grow your balance to $20,000, your leverage will remain 500x.
However, you will only be able to change it manually to 100x or lower.
Ready to begin?