In short
A margin call warns you that your equity is too low to support your trades. A stop out is the platform closing them for you, at 30% on Standard and Raw and 20% on Swap Free.
Three numbers decide what happens.
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Equity | The live value of your account: balance plus or minus the profit and loss on open trades |
| Margin | The money held as a deposit to keep your trades open |
| Margin level | The health of your account. Equity divided by margin, times 100 |
The two stages
Margin call. An automated warning that your equity is no longer enough to comfortably keep your trades open. It gives you time to add funds or close positions before anything automatic happens. You may receive a notification, but monitoring your margin is ultimately your responsibility.
Stop out. The point at which Tradin automatically closes your open positions to protect the account from going negative. Positions close starting with the most unprofitable, which ensures you never lose more than you deposited.
Stop out levels by account
| Account | Stop out level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 30% | Balanced for general traders |
| Raw | 30% | For traders seeking tight spreads |
| Swap Free | 20% | For Islamic compliant trading |
The forex conditions table separately publishes a 50% margin call and a 20% stop out for currency positions. Where the two differ, check your live margin level in MetaTrader 5, which shows the figure that applies to your account.
How leverage changes the picture
Higher leverage lowers the margin required, which gives a trade more room against losses even when the money lost is identical. Take a 1,000 US dollar account with 1 lot of EUR/USD, a total trade value of 100,000, losing 800 US dollars in both cases:
| At 1:100 | At 1:500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Margin required | 1,000 US dollars, the whole balance | 200 US dollars |
| Loss | 800 US dollars | 800 US dollars |
| New equity | 200 US dollars | 200 US dollars |
| Margin level | 20% | 100% |
| Outcome | Stop out triggered | Trade stays open |
The money lost was identical; the outcome was not. But higher leverage also means a much larger position, which makes your account far more sensitive to small price moves and increases your risk of faster and larger losses.
Hedged positions are not immune
A hedged position is still closed automatically if your equity goes below zero, or if your margin level reaches your account's stop out level. See Order types and hedging.
If a market moves so fast that a stop out cannot fill in time, negative balance protection resets the account to zero rather than leaving it in debt.
What to do at a margin call
Deposit more funds immediately, or close some positions to free up margin. Before weekends, holidays and major news, check your margin level and consider reducing exposure or adding funds. See When leverage is reduced.