Minimum Account Opening Deposit
The minimum deposit to open an MF Global FX Trading Account is:
US$25,000 or C$25,000 for a 100K or Standard account
US$2,500 or C$2,500 for a 10K or Mini account
US$1,000 or C$1,000 for a 1K or Micro account
To help determine the level of funding in an MF Global FX Trading Account, clients should also factor in the following, among other considerations:
- Currency pairs most frequently traded and their margin requirements,
- Contract sizes of currency pairs traded in the account,
- Desired ratio between used and usable maintenance margin in the account,
- Risk tolerance including maximum leverage and exposure to risk in particular currencies,
- Risk limits on individual trades,
- Implied and historical volatilities as guide to potential drawdown based on the leveraged exposure.
To view margin requirements and examples of currency pairs under MF Global FX margin regulation in a US$ account, click here. For the margin requirements in a C$ account, click here.
As an example, if you trade the EUR/USD pair exclusively, and you do not wish to exceed an exposure of (10K lots X 5 =) 50,000 units at any time, your maximum Used Maintenance Margin would be $450 X 5 = $2,250 at current exchange and margin rates.* If you wish to keep an amount of free margin in the account that is equal to (1 : 1) the required margin of your maximum exposure of 50,000 units, then you would need to fund the account with a minimum of about $4,500.
Let’s assume that you have accumulated 5 X 10K lots of EUR/USD in your account funded with $4,500. Based on an implied volatility of 1% or 150 pips and your entry prices relative to the market price, you could estimate that the position, if unprotected, might cause equity to fluctuate in a range of +/- $750 over 24 hours. But that is an inexact science, and the risk exceeds your tolerance.
So you fine tune your money management by setting appropriate stops that commit to a preset risk limit as a percentage of equity. As trades are limited or stopped out and equity changes, you can adjust position sizes to maintain your safety margin as represented by the ratio between Used and Usable Maintenance Margin.
Please note that the above example is for illustration only and that individual experiences may vary. Always trade with stops to manage your risks and never risk more than what you can afford to lose.
On average, MF Global FX clients fund 100K accounts with upwards of $25,000 and Mini accounts with upwards of $3,000. Under normal market conditions, there are no restrictions on the number of contracts traded in any account type as the exposure or size of the open position is always subject to available margin and the unrealized profit or loss in the account.
As a member of the industry regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), MF Global FX margins the unhedged foreign exchange positions of its clients according to IIROC Regulation 100.2 (d)(iv). At MF Global FX, margin rates are derived from rates published by IIROC. Please note that MF Global FX reserves the right to set higher margin requirements based on account size, simultaneous open positions, trading style, market conditions, etc.
* In this example the EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.5000, and the EUR/USD margin rate is 3%.
