In MetaTrader terminals, each instrument has defined minimum margin requirements needed to open a new position. This information is available on the Instrument Specifications page under the "Margin Requirements" column.
The margin percentage indicates how much of the total trade volume (adjusted for leverage) must be covered by your own funds.
For example, if the margin requirement is 2%, then only 2% of the total position size will be held from your balance, which is equivalent to 1:50 leverage. The rest is covered by the broker.
How to determine the maximum leverage for an instrument
You can calculate leverage based on the margin percentage using this simple formula:
Leverage = 100 / Margin Requirement (%)
For example, if the margin requirement for EURUSD is 0.1%, then 100 / 0.1 = 1000, i.e., the leverage is 1:1000.
You can find more detailed information about leverage and how it is calculated here.
Margin calculation formulas for different instruments
Direct-quoted pairs (e.g., EURUSD, GBPUSD):
Margin = Current price (in USD) * Volume (e.g., 1 lot = 100,000) / Leverage
Inverse-quoted pairs (e.g., USDTRY, USDJPY):
Margin = Volume / Leverage
Cross pairs (e.g., EURCAD, EURJPY):
Margin = Current price * Volume / Leverage / Price of the quoted currency in USD
(The first currency is the base; the second is the quote) Stocks and indices:
Margin = Current price * Volume / Leverage