Margin information

Review our margin requirements and other information related to margin trading with Saxo

For professional margin rates, please see margin information for professionals.

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

Read more about Initial and Maintenance margin here.

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

The initial and maintenance margin of a single stock CFD is based on the stock rating. Saxo defines 6 different stock ratings. This rating is derived from the market capitalization, liquidity and volatility of the underlying asset.

Saxo RatingInitial MarginMaintenance Margin
120%10%
220%15%
325%20%
435%30%
555%50%
6110%100%

To find the rating and collateral value, search for a specific instrument in our platform preview and open its product overview. Select the info button (i) on the top right, then go to the Instrument tab. 

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

An Index CFD with an initial margin of 5% can be traded at 20:1 leverage.


Index CFDs margins (normal market conditions)

 Index TrackerInitial MarginMaintenance Margin
US 30 Wall Street5%2.5%
US 5005%2.5%
US Tech 100 NAS5%2.5%
Denmark 2510%5%
EU Stocks 505%2.5%
France 405%2.5%
Germany 405%2.5%
Germany Mid-Cap 5010%5%
Germany Tech 3010%5%
Netherlands 2510%5%
Norway 2510%5%
Spain 3510%5%
Sweden 3010%5%
Switzerland 2010%5%
Australia 2005%2.5%
Hong Kong10%5%

Index CFDs contract details (expiring)

Index TrackerInitial MarginMaintenance Margin
China 5010%5%
UK 1005%2.5%
UK Mid 25010%5%
Singapore10%5%
Taiwan10%5%
US200010%5%
Japan 2255%4.5%

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

A Forex CFD with an initial margin of 3.33% can be traded at 30:1 leverage.

Instrument NameSymbolInitial MarginMaintenance Margin
CURRENCIES
Euro / US DollarEURUSDEC3.33%1.66%
Euro / Japanese YenEURJPYRY3.33%1.66%
Euro / Swiss FrancEURCHFRF3.33%1.66%
Euro / British PoundEURGBPRP3.33%1.66%
British Pound / US DollarGBPUSDBP3.33%1.66%
Australian Dollar / US DollarAUDUSDAD3.33%1.66%
USD IndexUSDINDEX20%10%

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

A Commodity CFD with an initial margin of 10% can be traded at 10:1 leverage.

Instrument NameSymbolInitial MarginMaintenance Margin

METALS
GoldGOLD5%2.5%
SilverSILVER10%5%
PlatinumPLATINUM10%5%
PalladiumPALLADIUM10%5%
US CopperCOPPERUS10%5%


ENERGY
US CrudeOILUS10%5%
UK CrudeOILUK10%5%
Heating OilHEATINGOIL10%5%
Gasoline USGASOLINEUS10%5%
Gas OilGASOILUK10%5%
US Natural GasNATGAS10%5%
CO2 EmissionsEMISSIONS10%5%


AGRICULTURE
CornCORN10%5%
WheatWHEAT10%5%
SoybeansSOYBEANS10%5%


SOFTS
NY Sugar No. 11SUGARNY10%5%
NY CoffeeCOFFEE10%5%
NY CocoaCOCOA10%5%


MEATS
Live CattleLIVECATTLE10%5%

Initial margin and maintenance margin are designed to protect you against adverse market conditions, by creating a buffer between your trading capacity and margin close-out level.

  1. Initial margin: a pre-trade margin check on order placement, i.e. on opening a new position there must be sufficient margin collateral available on account to meet the initial margin requirement for the entire margin portfolio.
  2. Maintenance margin: a continuous margin check, i.e. the minimum amount of cash or approved margin collateral that must be maintained on account to hold an open position(s). Maintenance margin is used to calculate the margin utilisation, and a close-out will occur as soon as you do not meet the maintenance margin requirement.

A Bond CFD with an initial margin of 10% can be traded at 10:1 leverage.

Initial MarginMaintenance MarginProduct/Instrument
20%10%German Government 5 year Bobl
German Government 2 year Schatz
20%10%German Government 10 year Bund
20%10%French Government 10 year OAT
20%10%Italian Government 10 year BTP

By default retail margins rates will apply. You can choose to recategorize as an elective professional to take advantage of lower margins requirements*. To read more about the benefits of professional accounts and how to qualify, please click here.

To get an overview of the margin information for elective professionals please click here.

Collateral rates for margin trading

(Professional clients only)

Saxo Bank allows a percentage of the investment in certain Stocks and ETFs to be used as collateral for margin trading activities. The collateral value of a stock or ETF position depends on the rating of the individual stocks or ETFs – please see conversion table below.

Rating
1
2
3
4
5
6
Collateral value of position
75%
50%
50%
25%
0%
0%

Example: 75% of the value of a position in a Stock or ETF with Rating 1 can be used as collateral (instead of cash) to trade margin products such as Forex, CFDs, Futures and Options. Please note that Saxo Bank reserves the right to decrease or remove the use of Stock or ETF investment as collateral for large position sizes, or stock portfolios considered to be of very high risk.

To find the rating and collateral value, search for a specific instrument in our platform preview and open its product overview. Select the info button (i) on the top right, then go to the Instrument tab. 

Saxo Bank allows a percentage of the investment in certain bonds to be used as collateral for margin trading activities.

The collateral value of a bond position depends on the rating of the individual bond, as outlined below:

Rating definition*Collateral percentage
Highest Rating (AAA)95%
Very High Quality (AA)90%
High Quality (A)80%

 

* as rated internally by Saxo Bank

Example: 80% of the market value of a bond position with an A rating can be used as collateral (instead of cash) to trade margin products such as Forex, CFDs or Futures and Options.

Please note that Saxo Bank reserves the right to decrease or remove the use of bond positions as collateral.

For further guidance or to request the rating and collateral treatment of a specific or potential bond position, please send an email to fixedincome@saxobank.com or contact your account executive.

This is built upon the collateral rates, where all equities are assigned both a margin requirement (for CFDs and options) and a value as collateral.

If the equity used as collateral is the same as the underlying for the leveraged position, an additional haircut will be deducted. The additional “concentration haircut” will be equal to the margin requirement of the leveraged position.

The collateral value of the underlying equity will be equal to the collateral value of the equity minus the margin requirement of the leveraged position.

This will make the margin utilization more sensitive to price movements in the underlying equity. The concentration haircut is introduced to account for the inherently riskier position when the exposure is concentrated around one underlying and is not diversified.

Example

A client on flat margin rates wants to buy 25.000 USD of CFDs in a company, and already has 10.000 USD stock in the same company. Since the underlying of the CFD position is the same as the stock, a concentration haircut will be deducted. If the company stock is rating 1, the calculation for the margin utilization will be:

Portfolio, CFDs and Shares in same underlyingValue (USD)
CFDs25,000
Shares10,000
Margin Requirement, 10%2,500
Collateral haircut, 25% of shares in Company2,500
Concentration haircut = Margin requirement for CFDs2,500
Collateral value of shares after concentration haircut5,000
Margin Utilization = Margin Requirement/Collateral value of stock50%

If the underlying stock of the CFD position had been different from the stock of the client, then a margin utilization of 33% would apply.

Get started now


Business Hills Park – Building 4,
4th Floor, office 401, Dubai Hills Estate, P.O. Box 33641, Dubai, UAE

Contact Saxo

Select region

UAE
UAE

All trading and investing comes with risk, including but not limited to the potential to lose your entire invested amount.

Information on our international website (as selected from the globe drop-down) can be accessed worldwide and relates to Saxo Bank A/S as the parent company of the Saxo Bank Group. Any mention of the Saxo Bank Group refers to the overall organisation, including subsidiaries and branches under Saxo Bank A/S. Client agreements are made with the relevant Saxo entity based on your country of residence and are governed by the applicable laws of that entity's jurisdiction.

Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.