Fusion Markets Leverage: Up to 500:1, Equity Tiers and Margin Examples

Fusion Markets offers leverage of up to 500:1 on forex and precious metals to clients of its Vanuatu and Seychelles companies. Indices go up to 100:1 and crypto CFDs up to 10:1, according to the broker's FAQ. Australian residents trading under the ASIC licence face much lower retail limits set by that regulator.

The maximum isn't fixed for life. It steps down as the equity in your account rises, starting at $50,000. You pick a setting when you create the account and can change it later in the Client Hub.

Leverage tiers by account equity

Tiers like these are common at offshore brokers. Bigger accounts carry bigger positions, and the firm reduces its own exposure by asking for more margin. Almost every retail reader sits in the first row, so the practical cap is 500:1.

What leverage does to margin

Leverage sets how much of your own money is locked up as margin for a position. Take a position worth $100,000, which is one standard lot of a pair with the dollar as its base currency. At 500:1 the margin is $200. Drop to 100:1 and the same trade needs $1,000.

Notice what doesn't change. A pip on one lot of EUR/USD is worth about $10 whether you use 500:1 or 30:1. Higher leverage doesn't make a position riskier by itself. It lets you open a bigger position than your balance could otherwise carry, and the bigger position is where the danger lies.

Why 500:1 wipes out small accounts

Take a $200 account. At 500:1 it can open a full standard lot, where each pip is worth $10. A 16-pip move against you costs $160 and takes the margin level to 20%, the point at which Fusion begins closing positions. EUR/USD often moves that far in a few minutes.

The same account trading 0.02 lots risks 20 cents a pip. A 50-pip loss costs $10, or 5% of the balance. Nothing about the leverage setting changed between those two cases. Only the lot size did.

How to choose a setting

• Decide your risk per trade first, for example 1% of the balance.
• Size the position from the stop distance, so the loss at the stop equals that 1%.
• Check the margin that position needs at your leverage setting.
• Keep used margin under about a fifth of your equity, leaving room for several open trades and for swings.
• Lower the account's leverage if you catch yourself opening oversized trades.

Followed in that order, the leverage figure becomes almost irrelevant. A trader risking 1% with a 25-pip stop on a $500 account trades 0.02 lots, which needs about $4 of margin at 500:1 and $20 at 100:1. Both are tiny next to the balance.

How to change leverage

1. Log in to the Client Hub and open Accounts.
2. Select Demo or Live and find the trading account.
3. Choose the option to change leverage and pick a new level.
4. Confirm, then check the new figure in your platform.

Change the setting while you have no open positions if you can. A lower setting raises the margin on existing trades at once, and that can push a stretched account towards the stop out level.

Leverage and negative balance protection

High leverage and price gaps are how accounts go below zero. Fusion resets negative balances for clients of its Vanuatu and Seychelles companies, once per working day and for each account separately. Residents of Mongolia, Türkiye, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and China are excluded, so they should be especially careful around weekends and news. The Fusion Markets stop out guide explains the margin call and liquidation levels, and the regulation guide sets out which company you are with.

Leverage on other markets

That 500:1 figure applies to forex and precious metals only. Fusion's FAQ gives a ceiling of 100:1 for index CFDs and 10:1 for crypto CFDs. Lower caps on those markets reflect how they move. An index can gap 2% at the open and Bitcoin can swing 5% in an afternoon, so the broker asks for more margin against them.

Mixed portfolios need care. A trader used to forex margin who opens a crypto position of the same dollar value will see fifty times more margin locked up. Free margin shrinks, and the margin level on the whole account falls with it.

Australian clients and ASIC limits

Residents of Australia trade with Fusion's ASIC-licensed entity. ASIC's product intervention order caps retail CFD leverage at 30:1 on major currency pairs, with lower limits on other assets, down to 2:1 on crypto. Those caps explain why one of Fusion's product pages quotes 1:2 crypto leverage for retail clients. Higher levels in Australia are reserved for clients who qualify as professional or wholesale.

Myths about leverage

One common belief is that high leverage raises the cost of a trade. It doesn't; spread, commission and swap depend on position size, not on the setting. Another is that low leverage makes you safe. A trader at 30:1 who puts the whole balance into margin is in more danger than one at 500:1 using a fiftieth of it. Safety comes from the size of the trade against the size of the account.

Frequently asked

Related reading

• Fusion Markets stop out
• Fusion Markets regulation
• Fusion Markets fees
• Fusion Markets demo account
• Our full Fusion Markets review