What leverage do you recommend?

As a general rule of thumb, we recommend limiting total account leverage to a maximum of 20:1. For example, if you have an account balance of $10,000, you could trade a maximum position size twenty times larger than your account balance. In this example, 20 X $10,000 = 200,000 (200k total for all positions).

At 20:1 leverage, a market movement of 1% will increase or decrease your account balance by roughly 20%. You can use this simple calculation to determine your risk tolerance. For example, someone who is less risk tolerant may want to leverage their account only five times so that a 1% market movement means a 5% increase or decrease in the account balance.

While greater leverage can increase the magnitude of your gain, it can also increase the magnitude of your loss and chances of receiving a margin call.