Forex Glossary
What Is Margin Call?
When losses drop your margin below a threshold and the broker asks for more funds or closes the position.
A margin call comes when losses erode your margin; the safeguard is low leverage and stop-loss orders.
Risk warning. Leveraged forex trading carries high risk and in Türkiye may only be offered by SPK-authorised intermediaries; leverage is capped at 1:10 (half of that may apply if the initial margin at account opening is below TRY 50,000). This content is not investment advice; user statements belong to their authors.
When does a margin call happen?
A margin call is the broker requesting additional funds when losses on your open positions push your margin below a certain level. Its purpose is not to punish you but to stop the position from running into a loss beyond the margin.
If margin is not topped up, positions may be closed automatically — usually called a "stop out". The warning level and the closing level are set out in the firm's contract; both thresholds should be known before opening an account.
Why do some traders never see one?
Because the leverage and lot size used decide it. On a large position opened with high leverage, the margin level erodes on a small price move; at low leverage the same move does not strain it.
You can see where your margin level would fall before opening a position with our calculators. A margin call is not a surprise but a computable outcome.
You cannot be asked for more than your margin
SPK regulation is explicit: retail customers and elective professional customers may not be made to trade in a way that causes a loss exceeding the margin deposited. Even if market conditions produce a loss beyond the margin, that loss may not be demanded from those customers.
So at an SPK-authorised firm, an account going negative does not create a debt for you. Detail of this protection is in our 1:10 leverage cap article.
A common trap: "your account went negative, settle the debt"
On unauthorised platforms a margin call can become a pretext for demanding money: you are told the account went negative and asked to pay to "settle the debt" or "rescue the position". This is a common pattern for extracting further payments.
If you receive such a demand, do not deposit and first verify whether the platform is on the SPK-authorised list. If it is not, the steps to take are set out in order in our complaint guide.