Leverage lets you control a larger position with a smaller deposit. Margin is the deposit required. If your account equity falls too low, your positions are automatically closed (stop-out) to prevent a negative balance. Higher leverage amplifies both gains and losses — use it carefully.
Leverage in plain language
Leverage is expressed as a ratio. 1:100 means $1 of your money controls $100 of position. So with $1,000 you can open a $100,000 (1 standard lot) EUR/USD position. nomo offers leverage up to 1:500 on some instruments.
Margin
Margin is the deposit locked against your open position. With 1:100 leverage, the margin is 1% of position size. A $100,000 position requires a $1,000 margin. Your free margin (the rest of your account equity) is what cushions adverse moves.
Margin level
Margin level = (equity / used margin) × 100%. When your margin level reaches 100%, a margin call is triggered, indicating that you no longer have sufficient margin buffer to support your open positions.
Stop-out
If your margin level falls below 50%, the stop-out mechanism is triggered automatically. Positions are closed starting with the ones generating the largest losses until the margin level recovers. This helps protect the account from going into a negative balance. One of the most common reasons clients experience significant losses is using position sizes that leave little or no margin buffer during normal market movements.
Important notes
Higher leverage is not free money. It increases the size of your position relative to your deposit, meaning a small adverse price move can wipe out a large fraction of your equity.
Beginners often blow up accounts not because they were wrong on direction, but because they used leverage that left no room for normal volatility.
Leverage caps depend on instrument and account type. Crypto pairs have lower maximum leverage than major Forex pairs because crypto is more volatile.
Stop-out is automatic. You cannot "talk to" nomo to override it after the fact. Manage risk before the stop-out triggers, not after.
Example
You deposit $1,000.
You open 1 standard lot of EUR/USD using 1:100 leverage.
Margin used: $1,000 (the full position size $100,000).
Your free margin is $0 — there is no cushion.
A 1-pip adverse move costs about $10 and pushes margin level below 100%.
A 50-pip adverse move would trigger stop-out.
The same trade on 0.1 lots would tie up $100 of margin, leaving $900 free — surviving 500 pips of adverse movement.