What is Leverage? Understanding the Risks and Mechanics of Leverage
One of your first missions when stepping into today’s markets is to know how leverage works and what is leverage . By allowing investors to control big positions with only a small amount of their own cash, trading platforms have made leverage a core tool people rely on. This article covers everything about leverage, how it works, and the risks that come with it, all while staying within the rules set by regulators. Defining Leverage in Trading Simply put, leverage means you can borrow money from your broker so you can place a trade much bigger than your account balance . It is usually shown as a ratio, like 10:1 or even 100:1 , and that number tells you how many times your cash is being multiplied. Brokers offer this feature on everything from EUR / USD pairs to Tesla shares and Bitcoin trades. How Leverage Works Leverage lets traders put up only a small part of a trade, called margin, while the broker covers the rest. The margin works like collateral, and the broker adjus...