High Leverage Brokers
| Forex Broker | Max Leverage | Min. Deposit | Spread | Full Reviews | Trade Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 3000:1 | $1 | From 0.0 Pips |  | |
 | 1000:1 | $0 | From 0.0 Pips | | |
 | 500:1 | $200 | From 0.0 Pips | | |
 | 400:1 | $0 | From 0.0 Pips | | |
 | 500:1 | $200 | From 0.0 Pips | | |
 | 500:1 | $200 | From 0.0 Pips | | |
 | 500:1 | $0 | From 0.1 Pips | |
Max Leverage: 500:1
Min. Deposit: $0
Spread: From 0.0 Pips
Full Reviews: Read the full review
What is leverage in trading?
Leverage in Forex trading or in other financial services where trading other financial instruments like CFDs or stocks is available, means to have more capital – money – to utilize. In using a bigger leverage, traders have more capital at hand to invest. Stock traders call this trading on margin. Higher leverage in trading provides the opportunity to gain bigger profits. On the other hand, it also increases the risk of larger losses. Leverage increases traders’ buying and selling ability in the Foreign Exchange or other market by providing virtual, nonexistent capital. This money is borrowed from the broker that offers leverage. Traders should notice that they enter high risk territory when they trade on margin.
As an example, when a trader uses a 100:1 leverage on his Forex account, he will be able to control 100 times the amount of money than he has in his account. If the trader in our example has a standard trading account with a balance of $1,000, he would be able to open a trade worth $100,000 and trade Forex, CFDs or other instruments. With this amount of exposure their account can grow or shrink much faster than without the extra margin.
Margin in Forex Trading
Margin is in principle the security required by a broker when trading Forex. A margin is also required for other leverage transactions, such as trading in options, forwards or futures. The reason for this is simply that with leveraged products, the loss can be higher than the invested capital. To prevent the trader from being unable to make up for his losses, Forex brokers require a margin. For example, there are brokers who have set a margin of 1 per cent. This means that the trader has to deposit a security of 10 dollars for a stake of 1,000 dollars.
Margin can also be used to determine the maximum leverage of any Forex broker. A margin of 1 per cent always means that the max leverage is 100:1. A margin of 0.25 would mean leverage of up to 400:1 is possible. Of course, traders are not forced to use leverage. A lever of 400:1 is already relatively high, so traders can profit from even the smallest price fluctuations or, on the other hand, suffer severe losses quickly.
Lot size: Selecting the correct position size
In Forex trading the risks of using leverage are quite simple: the higher the leverage the greater the risk for losing substantial amounts of money. On the flip side, this also means that higher leverage can be translated into: the higher the leverage the greater the chances for bigger profits.
When it comes to leverage it all depends on how much risk a trader is willing to take. Let’s go back to our previous example where a Forex trader has an account balance of $1,000 and his leverage is set to 100:1. The trader could lose their $1,000 in a matter of minutes if they initiate a trade worth $100,000.
What are the advantages of using leverage?
As dangerous as it can be to use leverage in trading the markets it can also be exciting and very profitable. The ability to control more money than having available in one’s account means to be able to make bigger profits on winning trades. When a trade moves in the right direction all profits are multiplied by the factor of leverage a trader chooses. Another benefit is that these bigger profits can be gained without having to invest all that money. Margin trading allows for lower deposits and higher gains. With little investment and high leverage a trader can trade, for example, not just 1000 unit lot and earn $0.10 for each pip, but go for 10 000 unit lot, where he will earn $1 dollar per pip.
Highest leverage offered by brokers
One of the highest leverage offered by Forex brokers is 3000:1. The internationally renowned Forex broker FBS offers this level of leverage on some of their available account types – for example the Cent Account, Micro Account, Standard Account and Zero Spread Account. This level of leverage is the highest on the market! With this type of leverage is important that you are able to place stop loss orders in order to mitigate the risk. Most of the leading brokers like Avatrade, eToro, FXTM, Exness and FXpro offer stop loss settings as part of their risk management tools. Of course, there are more order types or risk management functions that can help to keep risk-reward-ratios in check. In our experience, it is always a good idea to check if there are advanced trading tools and risk management options available before you click the open account button with a broker. If your risk tolerance is low, is better to use a demo account first or check if the broker you want to use offer a deposit bonus to play with.
Other popular Forex brokers like Alpari offer maximum leverage levels of up to 1000:1. Well recognized, internationally operating brokers like IC Markets, Vantage FX, Pepperstone, Admiral Markets or XM have their highest leverage levels set to up to 500:1. Other top brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 include AxiTrader, ThinkMarkets and easyMarkets.
It is important to consider where a broker is licensed and what type of maximum leverage is being offering. For example, a broker only licensed in Belize or Curacao offering a leverage of up to 3000:1 is probably too risky and you should rather stay away from them.
Limitations of leverage in countries due to regulation
Brokers based in the UK or anywhere in the Eurozone have been limited by ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) to offer a max. leverage of only 30:1. The 30:1 leverage is only available for major currency pairs. Non-major Forex pairs, gold, and major stock indices have a leverage of 20:1 available. All these limits have been applied to retail clients and are for all UK/Europe based brokers. Professional traders on the other hand, are allowed to use higher max. leverage than common retail clients. This is also a rule set out by ESMA. Brokers based in other countries and regions have again different frameworks and rules to follow. For example, Japan has a max. leverage cap of 25:1. Singapore and the USA have a leverage limit of 50:1.
High leverage for UK and European retail traders
Retail traders that are based in the UK or anywhere in Europe are free to choose a broker that has no leverage cap of 30:1. International Forex brokers based outside the UK/Europe accept clients from European countries. These brokers typically offer popular trading platforms like MetaTrader 4 and 5, cTrader or their own proprietary trading platform. Many top FX brokers are headquartered in Australia or Cyprus. Most of them are licensed and regulated with either ASIC, CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) or the FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) of South Africa. These are strong regulators with very strict rules similar to their European counterparts. Many sophisticated traders have chosen brokers that are based outside of Europe and the UK even if they are not regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) of the UK or other European regulators.
Find the Best licensed Forex Brokers with leverage that suits your needs
To help you find the Forex broker that is best suited to your needs, take a look at our comparison table and ranking of best Max Leverage Forex Brokers above. If you require more in-depth information or are looking for more brokers to choose from, check out our detailed individual broker reviews and additional comparison tables.