Exness · Leverage and margin

Leverage on Exness: what the setting actually changes

Leverage on Exness is not a single account-wide number. It is set per instrument, and the published conditions show it ranging from a fixed 1:50 on USD/MXN to 1:2000 on USOIL, with majors and XAU/USD listed as Customizable. For a South African trader watching the gold price, that difference is the whole story: the setting does not change whether a gold position moves against you, only how much of your balance is tied up while it does.

Two pages that pick up where this one stops: Exness · Broker overview and Exness · Account types.

Which instruments are fixed and which you set yourself

The trading conditions split into two groups. On most forex pairs — AUD/JPY, AUD/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/JPY, GBP/USD, NZD/USD, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, USD/JPY, USD/THB — leverage is Customizable, and the same applies to XAU/USD and XAG/USD. The caps are where the list gets uneven:

USD/ZAR at 1:200 is the line a local reader should stop on. The rand pair is capped well below what the oil contract allows, and it is not customizable. If your account is funded in rand and you trade the rand cross, the ceiling is already decided for you.

Why the gold numbers matter more than the leverage setting

XAU/USD being Customizable sounds like freedom, and in a sense it is — but the tick history shows what a gold position actually faces. The sharpest minute in the record is 12:00 UTC, at 60.91 USD, which is 6,091 USD per lot. The calmest is 20:00 UTC, at 3.29 USD.

Read those two figures next to each other and the leverage question answers itself. A quiet hour and a violent one are not the same instrument in practice, and a setting chosen during the quiet hour is the one that meets the violent one. Higher leverage does not create that 6,091 USD move; it only means less of your own money stands between you and it. The spread on the same instrument is 0.26 USD on Standard, or 26 USD per lot, and the swap is -53.49/0 pips on positions held past rollover — costs that arrive whether or not the leverage was set high.

Margin rules that arrive before the leverage does

Leverage determines margin; the margin thresholds determine what happens when it runs short. Margin call triggers at 60% on Standard and at 30% on Pro, Zero and Raw Spread, with stop out at 0%. Hedged margin is 0%, so a fully hedged position does not consume margin.

That last point is where gold traders get caught. A hedged XAU/USD position can look like it has freed up room, and on the margin side it has. It has not freed up the swap, and it has not removed the exposure — it has converted a directional bet into a cost-carrying one. The 0% stop out is the other number worth sitting with: it is not a cushion, it is the floor.

Where the setting meets the account type

Leverage is not chosen in isolation. Standard carries no commission and a spread from 0.2 pips; Pro from 0.1 pips with no commission and instant execution, market for crypto; Zero from 0 pips with commission from 0.05 USD per lot per side; Raw Spread from 0 pips with up to 3.50 USD per lot per side. Order execution is market on Standard, Zero and Raw Spread, and instant on Pro.

The practical consequence: on Zero and Raw Spread you pay per side, so a completed trade pays twice, and that cost is fixed per lot regardless of how much leverage you selected. Leverage changes the size you can carry; it does not change the per-lot cost of carrying it. Lot limits are separate again — minimum 0.01, maximum 200 lots from 07:00 to 20:59 GMT+0 and 60 lots from 21:00 to 06:59 GMT+0, with unlimited open positions.

Questions traders ask about leverage

Does a higher leverage setting increase my loss on a gold trade?

No. Leverage sets how much margin a position requires, not how far the price moves. The 60.91 USD sharpest-minute figure in the tick history is the same move whatever setting you chose; what changes is how much of your balance is committed while it happens.

Why is USD/ZAR capped at 1:200 when USOIL allows 1:2000?

The published conditions simply list them that way — USD/ZAR at 1:200 and USOIL at 1:2000, with indices at 1:200–1:400. The caps are per instrument, so the pair you trade decides the ceiling before you touch any setting.

Can I change leverage on XAU/USD?

XAU/USD is listed as Customizable, as are the majors and XAG/USD. The fixed figures apply to USD/ZAR, USD/MXN, indices and USOIL.

Does a hedged gold position free up margin for a second trade?

Hedged margin is 0%, so the hedged position does not consume margin. It still carries the swap of -53.49/0 pips past rollover, and the exposure is still there in a different form.

Is Exness ZA (PTY) Ltd the entity behind my South African account?

Exness ZA (PTY) Ltd holds FSCA FSP 51024. The wider group operates through separate entities, among them Exness (SC) Ltd under FSA Seychelles SD025.