Margin

The deposit required to open or maintain a position. Margin can be either "free" or "used". Used margin is that amount which is being used to maintain or open a position, whereas free margin is the opposite. With $1,000 in your account and a 1% margin requirement to open a position, you can buy or sell a position worth up to $100,000. This allows a trader to leverage his account by up to 100 times or 100:1. If your account falls to below the minimum amount required to maintain an open position, you will receive a "margin call" requiring you to either add more money into your account or close the open position. Most brokers will automatically close your open positions when the margin balance falls below the amount required to maintain the open position. The amount required to maintain an open position is dependent on the broker and could be 50% of the original margin required to open the trade.