Margin Level and Free Margin: Calculate Both From One Account Snapshot

Use two formulas with different units

Free margin is a money amount; margin level is a ratio expressed as a percentage. In the common leveraged-account model used here:

Free margin = equity − used margin
Margin level = equity ÷ used margin × 100%

MetaQuotes exposes balance, equity, used margin, free margin and margin level as distinct account properties. Read synchronized values from the account instead of substituting yesterday's balance or a headline leverage ratio. Use the same currency for numerator and denominator.

With hypothetical equity of $2,400 and used margin of $800, free margin is $1,600 and margin level is 300%. That percentage means equity is three times used margin. It is not a return, win rate or a measure of how much can safely be lost.

When used margin is zero, the ratio is undefined. Retain the equity amount and record the platform's display convention; do not invent a huge percentage by substituting a tiny denominator. Missing used margin is unknown, not zero. A negative equity value can produce a negative ratio when used margin is positive; a simple formula cannot determine the resulting account liability or broker response.

What a margin call means

A margin call concerns insufficient collateral under an account's requirements. A warning or demand for additional funds is different from forced closure, commonly called stop out or liquidation. Receiving a notification, crossing a configured threshold, sending a close request and obtaining a fill are separate events.

MetaQuotes' account-margin settings distinguish margin-call and stop-out levels and specify percentage or account-currency modes. Read both the threshold and its mode. Comparing a cash amount such as $500 with a ratio such as 70% is a unit error.

Do not assume every broker must contact you first. Interactive Brokers' margin-risk disclosure dated June 18, 2026, covering securities and futures margin accounts, says it generally liquidates deficient positions without advance notice and can raise house requirements without prior written notice. This is an example of that provider's disclosure, not a rule applied to every forex account.

For cTrader, Spotware's trading-conditions documentation states that the broker determines stop-out levels and describes smart and fair closure mechanisms. Those mechanisms do not justify assuming a universal threshold or that every system closes the largest losing position first. Verify the actual account policy.

Follow a changing-margin timeline

The table uses fictional USD amounts and a fictional percentage rule: a warning condition at or below 100%, and a stop-out condition at or below 50%. These are teaching inputs, not broker defaults. Each row supplies a new snapshot; an observed condition does not prove that a broker action has completed.

Hypothetical account timeline with changing equity and used margin

Step	Assumed event	Equity	Used margin	Free margin	Margin level
T0	Initial snapshot	$2,400	$800	$1,600	300%
T1	$600 equity loss; requirement unchanged	$1,800	$800	$1,000	225%
T2	Requirement rises; equity unchanged	$1,800	$1,800	$0	100%
T3	Further equity loss	$900	$1,800	−$900	50%
T4	Close attempt has no fill; mark worsens	$720	$1,800	−$1,080	40%
T5	Partial closure observed; new account snapshot	$700	$1,000	−$300	70%

T1 isolates a loss with fixed used margin. T2 shows a different mechanism: increasing the requirement from $800 to $1,800 moves the ratio to 100% without another trading loss. A model that changes only price or equity misses this possibility.

T3 reaches the fictional 50% comparison boundary. At T4 the example assumes an attempted close has not filled while the equity mark deteriorates. T5 assumes a later partial closure, used margin falling to $1,000, and another $20 of combined price movement and charges. These are supplied outcomes, not the output of a liquidation simulation.

At T5, $700 ÷ $1,000 × 100 = 70%. That is above the fictional 50% stop-out condition but still below the 100% warning boundary. It does not establish recovery, sufficient capacity for another order or protection against further losses. Closing a position realizes its marked result; it does not automatically restore the equity previously lost.

Calculate a boundary without pretending to predict liquidation

If a model freezes used margin M and uses a percentage threshold S, the equity comparison boundary is M × S ÷ 100. At M = $1,800 and S = 50%, the boundary is $900. At the same equity of $900 but M = $2,000, the margin level would instead be 45%.

This is a conditional equity calculation. It is not the market price of a margin call, an instruction to add a particular deposit or a forecast of the eventual fill. A price estimate would also require position direction, contract dimensions, all other exposures, conversion, costs and the rule governing how margin changes. Those assumptions are outside this reference's scope.

Record the comparison operator too: below and at-or-below differ exactly at a boundary. The worked table uses at-or-below explicitly. A platform's current account state and broker policy determine how its real boundary is interpreted.

Separate a protective threshold from a completed exit

A snapshot calculation cannot establish execution. Market availability, prices and the account's process still matter. OANDA Corporation's hours-of-operation explanation states that positions cannot be closed while markets are closed and that reopening gaps can cause stop orders to execute at a different price. That is a provider-specific illustration of why a selected trigger price is not a guaranteed exit price.

For an actual incident, retain the account-state timestamp, any warning, the close request, its response and resulting deals or positions. If the response or fill is missing, record it as unavailable. Do not label the account flat because a button was pressed or a condition appeared on a dashboard.

Margin and stop-loss budgeting answer different questions. Margin concerns collateral for exposure; planned loss concerns a specified price move under an assumed exit. Lower collateral requirements do not reduce a contract's money-per-point exposure, and a margin percentage is not a universal risk limit.

Check a proposed order in the actual portfolio

A standalone margin estimate is not necessarily the incremental requirement of a portfolio. MetaQuotes explicitly states that OrderCalcMargin evaluates the proposed operation without current pending orders and open positions. Netting, hedging and offsets need separate treatment when evaluating post-trade account state.

For copied accounts, inspect each destination's equity, current positions and rules. Spare capacity on the source does not establish destination eligibility. Use the balance and equity reference for changing account values and the futures margin guide for session-dependent requirements.

Run a destination margin preflight, then heed the broker response

The following downloadable event ledger is a wholly fictional USD-account example, not a broker test or a TradeCopier feature claim. At 10:00:00 UTC, equity is $2,400. Used margin is $800, comprising $500 for open positions and $300 already reserved for a working pending order; displayed free margin is therefore $1,600. The $300 is inside the $800, so subtracting it again would double-count it. If a different broker does not reserve margin for that pending order, document its contingent requirement separately instead of assuming this example's treatment.

For teaching the unit conversion, suppose the proposed copied order has a standalone requirement of €500 and the illustrative conversion is 1 EUR = $1.10. That is $550 in the USD account currency. The planning remainder is $2,400 − $800 − $550 = $1,050. Do not mix euros directly with USD equity. A real MT5 OrderCalcMargin result is already returned in the account currency; do not convert that result a second time. It also ignores the portfolio's existing positions and pending orders, so this subtraction is educational arithmetic, not a prediction of broker acceptance.

Fictional destination preflight and insufficient-margin response

UTC event	Account snapshot or response	Proposed order estimate	Decision
10:00:00, initial snapshot	Equity $2,400; used margin $800, including $300 pending reserve; displayed free $1,600.	€500 × $1.10/€ = $550; modeled remainder $1,050.	Planning estimate only; check the exact destination request.
10:00:02, broker response	Fictional MT5 return code 10019: insufficient money to complete the request. No fill is observed.	The earlier $1,050 does not override the response.	Stop; keep the code, request and timestamp. Do not blindly retry.
10:00:05, refreshed snapshot	Equity $2,300; used margin $1,800, including the same $300 pending reserve; displayed free $500.	€500 × $1.12/€ = $560; modeled remainder $2,300 − $1,800 − $560 = −$60.	Keep the request halted; resolve changed requirements and seek a fresh broker check before any later retry.

The changed $1,000 of used margin and illustrative conversion rate are supplied scenario inputs; the table does not claim why an actual broker would change a requirement. MetaQuotes' account properties distinguish current used margin and free margin and expose margin reserved for pending orders. OrderCheck can check an exact MT5 request and return account projections and a code, but even a passing check does not assure execution. Code 10019 means insufficient money in MT5's return-code list. If a later check clears and an order is sent, inspect the actual server return code, deals and resulting position; sending a request or receiving an initial true return is not proof of a fill.

For a real destination, retain the exact order size and symbol, the account-currency values and timestamp, whether pending reserves are already included in used margin, the broker's current margin schedule and the response. A broker can apply portfolio offsets, tiers and liquidation rules that this simple ledger does not model. Neither the $1,050 planning remainder nor the later −$60 is a universal acceptance or liquidation threshold.

Keep an account-policy and snapshot worksheet

Download the blank margin account-policy worksheet. Keep one row per observed or explicitly modeled account snapshot. Use an alias, currency, valuation time and evidence reference. Numeric fields should remain blank until known; an observed zero and unavailable value are different states. The template is manual and does not connect to an account or execute orders.

Evidence needed before interpreting a margin condition

Record	Why it matters
Broker entity, account type, dated policy	Rules can differ between accounts and change over time.
Equity, used margin, currency and timestamp	The ratio needs comparable values from one state.
Threshold mode, level and operator	Cash and percentage rules cannot be substituted.
Warning and liquidation procedure	No universal grace period or position-selection rule is assumed.
Request, response and confirmed result	An attempted closure is not a completed exit.

Use redacted references, never credentials. Keep actual observations separate from hypothetical stress rows. If the rule or input is missing, the condition is unknown; do not substitute this guide's fictional levels. A reproducible worksheet makes the uncertainty visible before anyone relies on its result.