Link Margin Calculator
This page is about margin in leveraged trading: how much of your balance a position ties up, and what is left over after it. Enter your balance, the position value you want to open, your leverage and your broker’s maintenance margin rate to see the required margin, the maintenance buffer, the available (free) margin, your margin level and the largest position your balance supports. If you arrived here looking for the wireless engineering term, where link margin is a signal figure measured in decibels, the note after the calculator explains the difference honestly.
Planning aid only, not financial advice. Broker margin rules differ; your broker’s figures govern your account.
Quick Answer
On a $10,000 balance, a $50,000 position at 10x leverage with a 0.5% maintenance rate needs $5,000.00 of required margin, reserves a $250.00 maintenance buffer, and leaves $4,750.00 of available margin at a 200.00% margin level. The calculator above is pre-filled with this exact trade.
Key takeaways
- Required margin is position value divided by leverage. Leverage changes the deposit, never the size of the risk.
- This calculator reserves the maintenance buffer on top of the required margin, so its available margin is deliberately more conservative than the equity minus used margin figure most brokers display.
- Margin level is the health gauge brokers watch: around 100% brings margin calls, and stop-out levels below that force-close positions.
- A negative available margin means the position does not fit the balance once the buffer is reserved, whatever the leverage says.
- Quick Answer
- How to use this margin calculator
- The four formulas, and one honest difference
- Worked example: $10,000 balance, $50,000 position, 10x leverage
- Margin levels: what the percentages mean in practice
- Estimating the liquidation price by hand
- A note on the name: this is not the wireless link margin
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use this margin calculator
Enter the four numbers for the trade you are considering and click Calculate. The result leads with the required margin, then itemises every figure, including the warning row when the position does not fit.
- Trading balance: the account balance before the trade. This tool treats balance as equity, so run it for one position at a time, or subtract the margin your other positions already use from the balance first.
- Position value: units times price, in dollars. If your platform quotes lots, convert first: one standard forex lot at a price of 1.0850 is a position value of $108,500.
- Leverage: the plain multiplier, 10 for 10 to 1. If you trade several instruments at different leverage, the margin leverage calculator works the leverage side of the same relationship in reverse.
- Maintenance margin rate: the percentage from your broker’s instrument specification, not a guess. Crypto exchanges often publish 0.5% to 2.5% tiers; regulated forex brokers express the same idea through their margin tables.
- Read the verdict badge with the rows. The badge grades the margin level only. The available margin row is the stricter test on this page, because it is the one that already has the maintenance buffer taken out.
The four formulas, and one honest difference
Three of the four formulas match broker practice everywhere. The fourth, available margin, is where this calculator deliberately parts company with the standard definition, and it says so on the result itself.
Maintenance margin = Maintenance rate ÷ 100 × Position value
Available (free) margin, this calculator = Balance − Required margin − Maintenance margin
Margin level = Balance ÷ Required margin × 100
Max position = Balance × Leverage
Most brokers and most rival tools define free margin as equity minus used margin, with no second subtraction: the FxRobotEasy margin calculator’s formula reference states it in exactly that form, and trading guides such as TradingInDepth’s margin calculator describe free margin the same way. On the worked example that standard definition gives $5,000.00, not $4,750.00. Neither figure is a fee and neither is money lost: the difference is whether the $250 maintenance slice counts as spendable. This page keeps the conservative version, because a trader who plans against the smaller number is not caught out when a broker’s liquidation engine starts measuring against the maintenance threshold. If your broker shows a higher free margin than this page, that gap is the explanation, not an error in either tool.
Worked example: $10,000 balance, $50,000 position, 10x leverage
Every line below is the calculator’s own output for the pre-filled trade, followed by three more verified runs that show the warning and the margin-level bands doing their work.
| Result line | Worked example |
|---|---|
| Required margin (50,000 ÷ 10) | $5,000.00 |
| Maintenance margin (0.5% of 50,000) | $250.00 |
| Available (free) margin (10,000 − 5,000 − 250) | $4,750.00 |
| Margin level (10,000 ÷ 5,000 × 100) | 200.00% |
| Max position at 10x (10,000 × 10) | $100,000.00 |
| Run (balance, position, leverage, maintenance) | Required | Available | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000, $5,000, 5x, 1% | $1,000.00 | −$50.00 | 100.00% |
| $5,000, $10,000, 20x, 0% | $500.00 | $4,500.00 | 1,000.00% |
| $1,000, $50,000, 10x, 0.5% | $5,000.00 | −$4,250.00 | 20.00% |
The first extra run is the subtle one: the margin level reads exactly 100.00%, yet available margin is already negative, because the whole balance is consumed by the required margin and the $50 maintenance slice has nowhere to come from. The calculator prints its warning row on that run. The third run is the hopeless case, a $50,000 position against $1,000, where the required margin alone is five times the balance.
Margin levels: what the percentages mean in practice
Margin level compares your balance with the margin in use, and brokers act on it automatically. The bands below are the widely used retail conventions; your broker’s own thresholds govern your account.
| Margin level | What usually happens | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 200% and above | Room to open trades and absorb a drawdown | Comfortable |
| 100% to 200% | Thin buffer; one strong adverse move reaches the call zone | Thin |
| Below 100% | Margin-call territory on most brokers; stop-out levels (often 20% to 50%) force-close below it | Danger |
Two account structures change how these numbers behave. Under isolated margin, each position risks only the margin assigned to it, so one position cannot drain the whole balance; under cross margin the full balance backs every position, which is the setup this calculator assumes. The end of the cross-margin road is forced closure, walked through step by step in the cross margin liquidation calculator. Regulators cap retail leverage precisely because these levels move fast: the CFTC’s retail forex rules set the US framework, and the ESMA product intervention measures cap CFD leverage across the EU.
Estimating the liquidation price by hand
The calculator does not output a liquidation price; it gives you the three figures the estimate is built from, and the derivation is short enough to do on paper. Treat the result as an estimate, since brokers layer their own formulas, funding fees and margin-call steps on top.
For a long position, liquidation happens near the price where your remaining equity falls to the maintenance margin on the shrunken position. With units = position value ÷ entry price, the estimate is: liquidation price = (entry × units − balance) ÷ (units × (1 − maintenance rate)). From the worked example, suppose the $50,000 position was opened long at a $100 entry: that is 500 units, against a $10,000 balance and a 0.5% maintenance rate. The estimate is (50,000 − 10,000) ÷ (500 × 0.995) = $80.40, an adverse move of 19.60% from entry. A short position mirrors the same algebra upward. Sizing the trade before entry, so the liquidation estimate sits far from your stop, is the practical use of this page alongside the margin trading calculator.
A note on the name: this is not the wireless link margin
In radio and satellite engineering, link margin means something entirely different: the amount by which received signal power exceeds the receiver’s sensitivity, measured in decibels. Engineers compute a full link budget (transmitter power, antenna gains, path loss, system losses) to get received power, then subtract sensitivity: the Hubble guide to calculating a LoRaWAN link budget works through that arithmetic in detail, and National Instruments’ link budget calculation for NI USRP systems applies the same method to software-defined radio. Nothing on this page computes decibels or signal power. This calculator covers the trading meaning only: the margin a leveraged position links to your balance. If your search was for the engineering figure, you need a link budget tool, not this one, and no result on this page should be read as a signal measurement.
What competing calculators miss
The margin tools ranking around this keyword split into broker-style calculators that stop at required margin, and guides that explain the vocabulary without a working tool:
- FxRobotEasy Margin Calculator: the strongest trading rival, with lot and contract-size inputs, a stop-out discussion and the standard free margin definition (equity minus required margin). It never asks for a maintenance rate, so it cannot show the maintenance slice, the conservative available figure, or a worked liquidation estimate.
- MyFxBack Forex Margin Calculator: tidy required margin, free margin and margin level from pair and lot size, with a SAFE style verdict. Forex pairs only, no maintenance input, and no explanation of why its free margin differs from a buffer-aware figure.
- TradingInDepth and NewYorkCityServers margin calculators: both add pip value or leverage-impact panels and state the standard definitions clearly. Neither reserves a maintenance buffer, neither warns in plain words when a position exceeds the balance, and neither derives a liquidation price from the same inputs.
- The engineering tools (Telecom ToolFusion and the link budget guides): correct for the radio meaning of link margin and useless for a trader, which is exactly the confusion this page now names openly instead of leaving the reader to discover it.
- The gap this page fills: required margin, a maintenance buffer reserved in the open, a conservative available margin with the definitional difference stated next to the formulas, a margin-level verdict badge, a negative-margin warning in plain words, and a hand-worked liquidation estimate from the same four inputs.
Frequently asked questions
The deposit your broker locks for a leveraged position: position value divided by leverage. A $50,000 position at 10x needs $5,000 of margin.
What remains after the required margin and the maintenance buffer are reserved: balance minus required margin minus maintenance margin. On the worked example that is $10,000 minus $5,000 minus $250, which is $4,750. Most brokers define free margin as equity minus used margin, without the second subtraction, so their figure for the same trade would be $5,000. This page shows the conservative version and labels it Available (free) margin.
Your equity as a percentage of the margin in use: balance divided by required margin, times 100. The worked example gives 200.00%. Many brokers margin-call around 100% and liquidate below it.
By hand, from the calculator’s own figures: the estimate solves for the price where your equity equals the maintenance margin, using your whole balance against the single position. Real brokers add funding fees and their own formulas, so treat it as an estimate, not a guarantee.
Because this calculator reserves the maintenance buffer on top of the required margin, while most brokers count free margin as equity minus the margin in use only. The difference is exactly the maintenance amount. Planning against the smaller figure is the conservative choice, but your broker’s number is the one that governs your account.
The position does not fit your balance once the required margin and the maintenance buffer are both reserved. Either reduce the position value, add funds, or accept that the trade as sized cannot be opened on this balance. The calculator prints a warning row whenever the available margin goes below zero.
Yes. Enter 0 and the maintenance margin is $0.00, so the available margin matches the standard equity minus required margin figure. Some brokers effectively work this way for certain instruments, though most publish a positive maintenance rate.
No. In wireless engineering, link margin (or fade margin) is measured in decibels and describes how far received signal power sits above receiver sensitivity. This calculator is for trading margin on leveraged positions in crypto, forex or CFDs, and it produces no decibel or signal figures.
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References
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Regulation of Off-Exchange Retail Foreign Exchange Transactions and Intermediaries (Final Rule). Accessed October 22, 2026.
- European Securities and Markets Authority. ESMA Adopts Final Product Intervention Measures on CFDs and Binary Options. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- FINRA. Margin Accounts: Margin Regulation. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov. Investor Alert: Margin Borrowing. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- CME Group. Margins: Know What Is Needed (Introduction to Futures). Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Reserve Board, Regulation T. 12 CFR Part 220: Credit by Brokers and Dealers. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Hubble Network. How to Calculate LoRaWAN Link Budget. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- National Instruments (NI). SDR Receiver Sensitivity and Link Budget Calculation for NI USRP Systems. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- ITU Radiocommunication Sector workshop materials, University of Vigo. Small Satellite Link Budget Calculation. Accessed October 22, 2026.