What leverage actually does
Margin = Position value ÷ Leverage
One lot of EURUSD at 1.1400 is worth $114,000. At 1:100 you put up 1% of that, $1,140. At 1:30 you put up $3,800. Either way the trade makes or loses the same $10 for every pip. Leverage changes the deposit, not the result.
Margin for one lot at common leverage levels
| Leverage | 1 lot EURUSD at 1.1400 | 1 lot gold at 4,200 | 1 lot NAS100 at 30,600 (contract 1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:10 | $11,400 | $42,000 | $3,060 |
| 1:20 | $5,700 | $21,000 | $1,530 |
| 1:30 | $3,800 | $14,000 | $1,020 |
| 1:50 | $2,280 | $8,400 | $612 |
| 1:100 | $1,140 | $4,200 | $306 |
| 1:500 | $228 | $840 | $61.20 |
Every time leverage doubles, margin halves. Gold stands out: a single lot needs $42,000 at 1:10, which is more than many funded accounts are worth.
1:50 vs 1:100 in plain numbers
On a $10,000 account, 1 lot of gold at 4,200 needs $8,400 at 1:50, which is 84% of the account, and $4,200 at 1:100, which is 42%. Same trade, same profit per dollar move, but one of them breaks an 80% margin rule and the other doesn't. For currency pairs the gap matters less: 1 lot of EURUSD is 22.8% of the account at 1:50 and 11.4% at 1:100.
Why lower leverage catches funded traders out
Many firms give less leverage on gold and indices than on currency pairs, and if your funded account has lower leverage than your challenge did, every symbol is affected. Margin rises in the same proportion. A trade that used 25% of the account at 1:100 uses 83% at 1:30. Nothing about the trader's style changed, yet the same position now breaks the rule. The fix is to resize the day the leverage changes, not after the first warning.
The leverage that actually matters
The 1:30 or 1:500 on your account is the maximum the broker allows. What really measures risk is the leverage you're using:
Effective leverage = Total value of open positions ÷ Equity
One lot of EURUSD ($114,000) on a $10,000 account is an effective leverage of 11.4, whether the account allows 1:30 or 1:500. 0.30 lot of gold ($126,000 at 4,200) on a $15,000 account is 8.4. Two traders with the same account leverage can be taking completely different risks, and this number shows it. You can't change your account leverage in MT5 itself; it's set by the broker or the prop firm for each account and symbol.
Regulated leverage limits
For retail clients in the EU, ESMA rules cap leverage at 1:30 on major currency pairs, 1:20 on other pairs, gold and major indices, 1:10 on other commodities and minor indices, 1:5 on shares and 1:2 on crypto. The UK uses the same limits, except that crypto CFDs can't be sold to UK retail clients at all. Prop firms set their own leverage, and it often follows a similar pattern: highest on major pairs, lower on gold and indices. Your account details list the exact figure per symbol.
Is higher leverage better?
It gives you more free margin, so you're less likely to hit a margin limit and you can hold more positions at once. The catch is that it also lets you open trades far too big for the account, because the platform only stops you when free margin runs out. Decide your size from your risk and stop loss first, as in how many lots to trade on a funded account, and treat leverage only as a check that the margin fits.
The margin calculator works at any leverage, including custom values, for 36 currency pairs, gold, silver and US indices.