Margin Call Calculator

Find the price at which your broker warns you and the separate price at which it starts closing positions.

A margin call and a stop-out are different events at different prices, and conflating them is expensive. A margin call is a warning: the account has fallen to a level where the broker asks for more funds or a smaller position. A stop-out is the broker acting — closing positions itself, at whatever price is available. This margin call calculator gives you the margin call price and the separate stop-out price, so the gap between them is visible before it matters.

Formula: price where equity falls to margin x call or stop-out level

Your figures

Currency

Position

Account balance

Entry price

Position size

In units of the instrument.

Margin on this position

Margin on other positions

Margin level is account-wide, so other positions pull both prices closer.

Margin call level

Margin level at which your broker warns you. 100% is a common convention rather than a rule — take the figure from your own account terms.

Stop-out level

Margin level at which your broker starts closing positions. Firms serving retail clients in the UK and the EU must close out at 50%; elsewhere, and for professional accounts, it is set by the firm — take it from your own terms.

Your stop-loss price

Optional — checks whether the broker would close you first.

Results

Stop-out price

US$85.00

15.00% from entry

Margin call priceWhere the broker warns you.: US$90.00
Current margin level: 200.00%
Total margin committed: US$5,000.00
Free margin: US$5,000.00
Loss before the margin call: US$5,000.00
Loss before the stop-out: US$7,500.00
Move to the stop-out: 15.00%

What this means

A margin call at US$90.00 is a warning; the stop-out at US$85.00 is the broker closing positions itself, at whatever price is available. The gap between them is the room you have to add funds or reduce.

Contract values, tier schedules and margin levels differ by venue and by account tier, and venues change them. Take every figure from your own venue's contract specification. No venue's schedule is preset here: the tiers and levels a field opens with are round illustrations, chosen for their shape rather than copied from anywhere.
Margin level is account-wide. Other open positions raise the total margin and pull both trigger prices closer to the current price.
A stop-out is executed at the market price available at the time, which in a fast market can be materially worse than the level shown.
Some brokers close the largest losing position first, others close everything. Which applies changes what is left afterwards.

The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.

Continue with these figures

About the Margin Call calculation

Both are triggered by margin level, which is equity divided by the margin committed, so the same arithmetic doubles as a margin level calculator. A common shape is a call at 100% and a stop-out at 50%, and the distance between them is the only room you have to respond.

The detail most often missed is that margin level is account-wide. Other open positions raise the denominator, which pulls both trigger prices closer to where the market currently is — a position that looked safe alone becomes marginal once others are open beside it.

Margin Call formula

margin level = equity ÷ total margin × 100

equity at call     = total margin × call level ÷ 100
equity at stop-out = total margin × stop-out level ÷ 100

price = entry − (balance − equity threshold) ÷ units    (long)
price = entry + (balance − equity threshold) ÷ units    (short)

margin level: Equity as a percentage of the margin committed. Falls as the account loses.
total margin: This position's margin plus every other open position's.
equity: Balance plus or minus open profit and loss.

Each threshold is an equity level first and a price second. Convert the equity the account may fall to into a loss, divide by the position size to get a price distance, and apply it in the losing direction.

The gap between call and stop-out is the practical point of the calculation. A broker calling at 100% and stopping out at 50% gives you the distance between those two prices to act in. A broker with both set closer together gives you almost none, which is worth knowing before it happens rather than during.

Comparing the stop-out price against your own stop-loss is the check most traders never run. If your stop sits beyond the stop-out price, the broker closes the position before your stop is ever reached — which means your risk was never what you planned, and the loss is realised at whatever price the broker can get.

Margin Call: a worked example

A $10,000 account, long 500 units at 100.00, with $5,000 of margin on the position, a 100% call level and a 50% stop-out.

Current margin level10,000 ÷ 5,000 = 200%
Equity at the call5,000 × 100% = $5,000
Loss to reach it$5,000, or 10.00 of price
Margin call price100.00 − 10.00 = 90.00
Equity at the stop-out5,000 × 50% = $2,500
Stop-out price100.00 − 15.00 = 85.00

A warning at 90.00 and forced closure at 85.00. Adding $3,000 of margin on other positions moves the call up to 96.00 and the stop-out to 88.00 — the same trade, considerably less room. Both thresholds are measured against the account's whole margin rather than this position's, which is why $3,000 committed elsewhere costs six points of room here.

How to use the Margin Call calculator

Enter the balance, the position, and the margin posted on it.
Add margin held against other open positions. Margin level is account-wide and this materially changes both prices.
Enter your broker's call and stop-out levels from their own terms. Those two numbers drive everything the stop-out level calculator reports, and brokers set them differently rather than to a common standard.
Add your intended stop-loss to check which comes first. If the broker's stop-out arrives first, your stop is not doing anything.
Treat the stop-out price as the outer limit, not a plan. Being closed by a broker is an outcome to avoid, not to manage towards.

Limitations of the Margin Call calculator

Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.

A stop-out executes at the market price available at the time. In a fast market that can be materially worse than the level shown, and the account can finish below the stop-out equity.
Brokers differ in what they close. Some close the largest losing position first, some close everything, some close proportionally. Which applies changes what remains afterwards.
Assumes margin stays constant. Brokers raise requirements on volatile instruments and before weekends, which moves both prices closer without the market moving.
Excludes swap, funding and commission, which reduce equity over time and bring both thresholds nearer.
Assumes a single position in one instrument. A multi-currency or multi-instrument account nets differently.

Frequently asked questions about Margin Call

When will I get a margin call, and how is it different from a stop-out?

The call fires when margin level — equity divided by the margin committed — falls to the broker's call threshold, commonly 100%. It is a warning: you are asked to add funds or reduce. A stop-out is the broker closing positions for you at a lower threshold. The call comes first, and the distance between the two is your window to act.

Why do other positions affect this one's stop-out price?

Because margin level is measured across the whole account. Other positions increase the total margin committed, which raises the equity level at which the thresholds trigger — so this position's stop-out price moves closer to the current market price without anything about the position itself changing.

Can I be stopped out before my own stop-loss?

Yes, and it is common when a position is sized close to the margin limit. If your stop sits beyond the stop-out price, the broker acts first. This calculator flags exactly that case, because it means the risk you planned is not the risk you have.

Does a margin call always precede a stop-out?

Usually, but a gap can skip straight past it. If the market moves through both levels between ticks — over a weekend, or on a news release — the account can go from healthy to stopped out with no opportunity to respond.

How do I get more room?

Only two things move the thresholds: adding funds, which raises equity, or reducing position size, which lowers the margin committed. Both work; the second also reduces the loss per point, so it moves the price threshold twice as effectively.

Last reviewed 29 August 2026. See our methodology and editorial policy.

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