Leverage lets you control a larger position with a smaller deposit. Margin (also called Used Margin) is the deposit required. If you hold several trades on the same asset, your margin is calculated on your net exposure, not on each trade separately. 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 (Used Margin)
Margin — shown on the platform as Used 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 with multiple trades on the same asset
If you have more than one open trade on the same asset, your Used Margin is calculated on your net exposure, not by adding up the margin for every individual trade. nomo compares your total Buy volume against your total Sell volume on that asset and calculates margin on whichever side is larger — the smaller side does not add any extra margin requirement.
This matters most if you hedge — for example holding both Buy and Sell trades on the same instrument at the same time. Because only the larger side counts, hedging trades do not require additional margin on top of your existing exposure.
Tap the Used Margin figure on any open position to see a breakdown: your total Buy lots, total Sell lots, and the calculation used for your current margin requirement.
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.
Dynamic Leverage
Dynamic Leverage automatically lowers your leverage as your position on an asset gets bigger — so the more you risk, the more margin protection you get. It applies in layers: your first lots get a higher leverage rate, and each additional layer of lots gets a progressively lower rate.
nomo looks at your total Buy or total Sell exposure on the asset — whichever is bigger — and applies the tiered leverage to that exposure. For example, a typical tiering could look like this:
Lots | Leverage |
0–1 | x50 |
1–2 | x33.33 |
2–3 | x25 |
3–4 | x20 |
4–5 | x16.67 |
5+ | x14.29 |
Your account shows a blended "effective leverage" figure once Dynamic Leverage applies — this reflects the mix of tiers your current exposure sits across, not a single flat number.
Dynamic Leverage is a newer feature and is not yet applied to every instrument. Where it isn't used, your account continues to use standard fixed leverage for that asset.
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.
Used Margin: $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.