What is margin?

Margin is a kind of guarantee which is required to maintain open positions. This is not a fee or transaction costs, but it is simply a part of the capital held in your account assigned to a so-called "margin deposit. The required margin at FXCM (each Lot to 10,000 units) are determined based on a percentage of the transaction size plus a small cushion. The padding is added to alleviate daily / weekly fluctuations.