Forex Leverage: a Two-Edged Sword

As every forex broker says with pride, in the forex market you can leverage your money and make enourmous earnings. As attractive as it sounds, leverage also has a dark side, losses.

Leverage is just the ability to trade with more money than you have. If you have a leverage of 1:100, you can open a trade of $100,000 with $1,000. When the pair moves, you earn or lose 100 times this move. If the exchange rate goes just 1% in your favor, you double your money.

However, leverage is not perfect. Just like it makes profits big, it also magnifies losses. Just as a 1% move in your favor will double your investment, a move of 1% against you will erase it quickly. If the leverage is higher, and some brokers go as high as 1:500, your losses will be eliminated much faster.

When you trade or use a automated forex trading system, make sure to properly adjust your desired leverage. Don't make it too small, because you'll miss out some good opportunities. However, don't set it too high, or your losses will be greatly magnified.

Have a great trading week,
Nadav

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