Margin information

Review our margin requirements and other information related to margin trading with Saxo

For professional margin rates, please see margin information for professional clients.

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: the amount of margin required to open a new position.
  2. Maintenance margin: the amount of margin required to maintain an open position.

Read more about Initial and Maintenance margin here.

See a full list of our FX margin rates for retail clients as well as our FX margin rates for elective professional clients.

* The margin levels indicated in the list may differ from actual margin levels, which may be higher or revised from time to time. For more detailed information on actual margin levels, please refer to the Trading Conditions specified on the Trading Platform

Margin requirements differ by currency pair and depend on the exposure in the currency pair. Margin requirements may be subject to regulatory mandated minimums and may be subject to change according to the underlying liquidity and volatility of the currency pair. For this reason, the most liquid currency pairs (the majors) in most cases require a lower margin requirement.

Saxo offers tiered margin methodology as a mechanism to manage political and economic events that may lead to the market becoming volatile and changing rapidly. With tiered margin, the average margin requirement (‘Blended Margin Requirement’) increases with the level of exposure. The opposite is also true; as the level of exposure decreases the margin requirement also decreases. This concept is illustrated below:

The different levels of exposure (or tiers) are defined as an absolute number of U.S. Dollars (USD) across all currency pairs. Each currency pair has a specific margin requirement in each tier.

Please note that margin requirements may be changed without prior notice. Saxo reserves the right to increase margin requirements for large position sizes, including client portfolios considered to be of high risk.

By default retail margins will apply. As a client regulated under ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) and based on a specific set of eligibility criteria you can apply to reclassify as an elective professional. Margin rates for elective professional clients differ from retail clients. You can find more information about margin rates and eligibility criteria here.

To get an overview of the margin information for elective professionals please click here.

Collateral rates for margin trading
(Professional clients only)

Saxo Markets allows Professional clients to use a percentage of certain stock and ETF investments as collateral for margin trading activities. The collateral value of a stock or ETF position depends on the rating of the individual stocks or ETFs – please see conversion table below.

Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
Collateral value of position
75%
50%
50%
25%
0%
0%

Example: 75% of the value of a position in a Stock or ETF with Rating 1 can be used as collateral (instead of cash) to trade margin products such as Forex, CFDs, Futures and Options. Please note that Saxo Markets reserves the right to decrease or remove the use of Stock or ETF investment as collateral for large position sizes, or stock portfolios considered to be of very high risk.

For a complete list of available stocks, ratings and collateral values, please click here.

For a complete list of available ETFs, ratings and collateral values, please click here.

Saxo Markets allows Professional clients to use a percentage of certain bond investments as collateral for margin trading activities.

The collateral value of a bond position depends on the rating of the individual bond, as outlined below:

Rating definition*Collateral percentage
Highest Rating (AAA)95%
Very High Quality (AA)90%
High Quality (A)80%

 

* as rated internally by Saxo Group

Example: 80% of the market value of a bond position with an A rating can be used as collateral (instead of cash) to trade margin products such as Forex, CFDs or Futures and Options.

Please note that Saxo Group reserves the right to decrease or remove the use of bond positions as collateral.

For further guidance or to request the rating and collateral treatment of a specific or potential bond position, please send an email to fixedincome@saxobank.com or contact your account executive.

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