Required margin is real cash
Your broker locks the deposit until you close the trade. While it is locked you cannot use it for other positions, and a sharp adverse move can force a margin call before your stop is reached.
Free trader tools
Margin Calculator
Tell us the position size you want to take and the leverage your broker offers. We hand back the deposit your broker locks (required margin), and — if you provide your account balance — the free margin you have left and the utilisation as a percent of equity.
Margin requirements are easy to misread. The figure on screen is what your broker actually freezes — exceed it and you get the margin call before the thesis plays out.
MindTrajour_Margin
How to read the utilisation number
Three reads to take seriously before the broker is the one telling you to size down.
Utilisation is a survival metric
Utilisation under 30 % gives the position room to breathe. Between 30–60 % is normal but stressful. Over 60 % a routine pullback can blow the trade before the thesis fails — the math, not the chart, takes you out.
Notional leverage shows up everywhere
Forex, futures, CFDs, naked options — every market has a notional-to-margin ratio. Once you internalise this calculator you also internalise that 'a small option position' might still carry the notional exposure of a six-figure stock trade.
Margin is the broker side of sizing
Required margin is what the broker locks. Position risk is what you have to live with.
MindTrajour ties broker margin to your actual risk per trade so you stop confusing 'I have free margin' with 'I have free risk'.
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Open toolFrequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before sizing your next trade.