In this article, we will define leveraged forex trading, discuss some popular tools to assist in maximising yields, and explore common strategies used.
Leveraged trading is a popular method that traders use to amplify their capital. In this article, we will define leveraged forex trading, discuss some popular tools to assist in maximising yields, and explore common strategies used.
Leveraged trading involves market participants combining a small amount of capital with borrowed funds from a broker allowing them to control larger positions and amplify potential returns. Leverage is typically expressed in ratios, such as 1:50 or 1:100, meaning that a trader using $100 of their own capital could gain exposure to a $10,000 position. In using this method, traders can increase the potential of higher returns, however, the associated risks are also increased.
In order to open a trade, brokers usually require margin, which is a percentage of the position value. If losses approach this margin, the position may be automatically closed.
Institutional forex trading has seen significant growth in recent years due to improved market access, technological advancements, and the availability of real-time data. Forex trading involves daily transactions of upwards of $7.5 trillion and the foreign exchange market remains the most liquid and actively traded market globally. Underlying retail traders participate significantly to the market, whilst institutional partners tend to make up the majority, including:
iSAM Securities¹ offer a suite of institutional-grade tools that provide sophisticated market access, real-time market analytics and precise execution for forex trading. These tools provide lightning-fast insights, low-latency execution, and client access:
Purpose: iSAM Securities Radar is a comprehensive risk management tool designed for intraday monitoring of book performance and profitability. All of iSAM Securities’ analytics services are available to companies from start-up to enterprise level.
How it works: iSAM Securities Radar streams exposure from every trading server and platform (MT4, MT5, FIX, and proprietary APIs) into a single live view, enabling your dealing desk to protect P&L the moment it matters most.
Benefits: Real-time sharp client detection and alerts allow users to identify HFT, latency arbitrage, news trading, and gap exploitation in seconds by combining P&L, margin and equity swings, decay timers, news windows, and more. 360o exposure control aggregates net positions across symbols, servers and books in real time.
Smart hedging secures spread revenue by automatically classifying clients and routing them to A-Book, B-Book, or Execution Delay, with a single click.
The platform supports vendor-agnostic ingestion via MT4/MT5 Manager API or FIX drop copy with minimal load on trading servers, and includes built-in LP Reconciliation to match, net, and reconcile positions directly within the dashboard.
Purpose: iSAM Securities Apex is engineered to enable brokers to effectively manage risk and connect to an extensive network of liquidity providers.
How it works: Apex is a robust multi-asset platform designed for brokers and hedge funds of all sizes, leveraging the hard-won knowledge of our team of highly experienced trading and operations professionals.
Benefits: We acknowledge that underlying retail traders rely heavily on uptime to have constant access to ticking prices for risk monitoring. Apex combines the latest premium technologies with multi-layered redundancy structures and comprehensive industry expertise to ensure we are delivering the most reliable platform possible.
Our execution system updates LP prices with market leading speed in order to avoid latency issues caused by LP price throttling, network inefficiency, and slow technology.
We bring institutional-level features to retail platforms, to assist with scalability and provide sophisticated brokers with the institutional-level risk management they require.
Purpose: Terminus is iSAM Securities’ proprietary risk and back-office system designed to provide our clients with increased operational control and transparency.
How it works: Terminus provides a centralised, secure environment where clients can manage accounts, track funding and generate reports to oversee trade activity. We have built this platform with the needs of our clients in mind allowing them to streamline workflows and enhance data-driven decision making.
Benefits: Terminus offers access to real-time metrics including margin utilisation, net open positions (NOP), net equity, and collateral levels, providing a clear and complete picture of clients’ trading and risk exposure. As a result, users can make informed decisions and improve overall risk oversight to ultimately increase profitability, efficiently manage capital and support long-term growth.
Efficient use of technology can significantly improve trade execution. Below are several key areas where technology is helping institutional and professional traders gain a competitive edge.
Low-latency platforms allow traders to place orders and execute trades quickly, usually within microseconds. Several factors can enhance the effectiveness of low-latency platforms.
Automated trading systems execute transactions based on predefined rules and real-time data. They analyse market conditions and generate trades according to their instructions at speeds significantly surpassing those of a human. One of the benefits often attributed to automated trading is the absence of emotional bias or hesitation.
Due to the decentralised structure of the forex market, there are variations in pricing, trade speeds, liquidity, and other factors. In an industry where milliseconds are crucial, Smart Order Routing can significantly enhance trading efficiency by automatically identifying and routing orders to the best available price source.
Several strategies can be implemented to help safeguard against exposure and minimise risk. These strategies include:
If you require further information on forex trading or tools to help maximise trading efficiency, contact our iSAM Securities¹ team – info@isam-securities.com
¹ iSAM Securities (UK) Limited, iSAM Securities (HK) Limited and iSAM Securities (Global) Limited, iSAM Securities Limited, iSAM Securities (EU) Limited and iSAM Securities (USA) Inc. are together “iSAM Securities”.
Episode 01: Institutional Liquidity Providers Explained
Your quick guide to what institutional liquidity providers are, how they operate, and where iSAM Securities fits in.
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Episode 02: How To Choose The Right Liquidity Provider
In today’s fast-moving institutional trading environment, it is essential to partner with a reliable, scalable, and transparent partner to support your trading strategy. There are various types of liquidity providers, that can significantly differ in costs, liquidity pool, support, and transparency.
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Episode 03: Institutional Forex Trading, Execution And Liquidity
As part of our View From the Desk series on B2B liquidity and related topics, this article will explore institutional forex trading, execution and liquidity. We will leverage our first hand experience as an institutional liquidity provider to offer valuable insights into forex trading.
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