IG Australia CFD margin rates

What is margin?

CFDs are leveraged products, meaning you don't have to pay the full value of your trade upfront. When you're buying on margin, you put up an initial deposit – which is a fraction of your position's total value – to trade. This opening amount is called margin, also sometimes referred to as 'deposit margin'.

For example, if you want to trade $10,000 worth of Australia 200 CFDs with a 5% margin requirement, you would only need $500 as your initial deposit.

Margin is usually required on leveraged trades. Bear in mind that the profits and losses of leveraged trades are calculated on the full position size, not the margin amount. This means that you could lose or gain more than the amount you paid to open the trade.

Our margin rates

All our margins are kept at competitively low rates. We offer tiered margining, meaning there are different margin requirements at different levels of exposure. Smaller trade sizes attract our lowest margin rates because they generally benefit from better market liquidity.

Our tiers start from one and go up to four. Tier one has the lowest margin rates, while tier four has the highest.

Tier one margins

You can see a summary of tier one margins for some of our most popular markets below.

For all tier one margins, you can limit your potential for losses by using stop orders. This limits your exposure to risk by automatically closing out your positions if losses reach a certain level, predetermined by you. However, if markets move too fast and your position is not closed in time, your trade can go through negative slippage. To counteract this, you can use guaranteed stops, which will always close out your trade at the predetermined level, which you'll pay a premium for.

Understanding margin calls

A margin call occurs when your account balance falls below the minimum required to keep a position open. This happens when the market moves against you and your losses exceed your available funds.

When you receive a margin call, you'll need to deposit additional funds to maintain your positions. We will attempt to notify you by email if your account goes into margin call, but it's always your responsibility to monitor your account and ensure sufficient funds are available.

Learn more about margin calls

Understanding maintence margin

Maintenance margin, also known as variation margin, is the extra money we might need to request if the market moves against you. It ensures you have enough money in your account to fund the present value of your position and cover any running losses.

Learn more about maintenance margin