Flexible Risk Management

What is Flexible Risk Management (FRM)?

At TabTrade we try to keep things simple. That’s why we have implemented a system of automated controls around trading, leverage and margin requirements to better protect yourself and TabTrade from issues such as outsized positions and market gaps. This automated system is called Flexible Risk management, or FRM for short.

Our FRM system automatically takes in details about upcoming news, holidays, market events and your own account information to work out the appropriate limits to leverage and positions. You don’t need to do anything yourself - we handle this all automatically in real-time.

Why was my leverage reduced?

Leverage reductions on your accounts can occur for multiple reasons, usually relating to the riskiness of the trading activity or overall account size, as these can both increase the inherent risks of leverage. If we make a manual decision to reduce your leverage based on the trading behaviour we see, we will contact you to explain the decision.

Your leverage may also be automatically adjusted by our FRM system based on the total size of all of your trading accounts combined. As your overall account equity grows, the maximum leverage available to you naturally decreases. This is a standard risk management practice used across the industry to protect both you and us as account sizes increase. Larger accounts with very high leverage carry significantly more risk exposure, so leverage limits are scaled to match your account size.

How is my account size calculated?

Your account size is calculated by adding up the equity across all of your active live trading accounts, converted to USD. This gives a single aggregate figure that determines which leverage tier applies to you. Individual account balances are not evaluated in isolation - it is the combined total that matters.

Please note that your wallet balances do not count towards this figure unless you move them into a live trading account. This is because wallet balances do not directly impact your ability to open trades, so they are not included in calculations.

What leverage is available at different account sizes?

Leverage limits are tiered based on your total account equity. As a general guide, smaller accounts qualify for higher leverage (up to 1:1000), while larger accounts are progressively limited to lower leverage ratios. For example, accounts with total equity above certain thresholds may be limited to 1:500, 1:400, 1:300, 1:200, 1:100, or 1:50. The exact tiers depend on your account configuration.

When we haven’t had a chance to speak to you first, we apply conservative leverage settings on larger account sizes - these are standard protections in place for the benefit of both parties. For larger deposits, we generally like to understand your needs first to ensure everything is set up to match your trading style and goals. We're happy to expand leverage options tailored to those needs. Please reach out to our team to see what we can arrange.

The following default limits apply when first joining us:

What happens to my leverage when I make a deposit or transfer?

When you deposit funds or transfer money into a live trading account, our Flexible Risk Management system checks whether your updated total account size still falls within the current leverage tier. If your total equity has moved into a higher tier, your leverage on that account may be reduced before or after the funds are credited. Automated reductions are done with consideration to your current margin situation - we will typically lower your leverage by as much as is safe given your current open positions to avoid a stop-out, rather than making a large jump all at once which could trigger a stop-out.

Will my leverage ever be increased automatically?

No. Automatic leverage changes only ever reduce your leverage. If your account equity decreases (for example, due to withdrawals or trading losses), your leverage will not be automatically raised back up. If you want to increase your leverage after your equity has decreased, you can request a change through your account settings, subject to your current eligibility.

What if I have open positions when my leverage needs to be reduced?

The Flexible Risk Management system is designed to protect your open positions. Before applying any leverage reduction, it calculates whether the change would cause your margin level to drop below a safe threshold. If reducing your leverage to the required level would put your open positions at risk, the system will apply a smaller, safer reduction. Your deposit or transfer will still be processed - only the leverage change is deferred until it can be applied safely.

Does a leverage reduction on one account affect my other accounts?

No. When leverage is reduced after a deposit or transfer, only the account receiving the funds is adjusted. Your other live trading accounts keep their current leverage settings. However, because leverage availability is based on your total equity across all accounts, future deposits into other accounts may also trigger leverage reviews on those specific accounts.

Can I still choose my own leverage?

Yes. You can still select your preferred leverage when opening a new account or editing an existing one, as long as the leverage you choose is within the limits allowed for your account size and configuration. The available options shown to you will reflect what is currently permitted. If your account is currently on a leverage level that was set by the FRM system (for example, 1:900), that value will be shown as your current setting but may not appear as a selectable option.

Why can't I select certain leverage levels that I've seen on my account?

Some leverage levels (such as 1:550, 1:700, or 1:950) are intermediate steps used only by our automatic Flexible Risk Management system. These values allow for smoother, more gradual reductions rather than large jumps. They are not available for manual selection. When choosing your leverage, you will see the standard published options that are available to you.

Why were my margin requirements to open new positions increased?

Our automated Flexible Risk Management system may temporarily increase the margin required to open new positions on certain instruments during periods of elevated market risk. These periods include scheduled economic news releases, central bank announcements, market session breaks, and public holidays where trading hours are shortened or markets close early.

During these times, markets are more likely to experience sudden price gaps and reduced liquidity. By temporarily requiring more margin to open new positions, we help ensure that both you and we are better protected from the outsized risk that comes with trading through these events at very high leverage. This is a standard risk management practice in the industry.

This protection typically applies only to accounts with leverage set above 1:500, and only to opening new positions. Your existing positions should not be affected by an increase in initial margin requirements. If your account leverage is 1:500 or lower, your margin requirements will not be affected by our FRM system in most cases day to day, but during extreme market events or high impact news over market gaps (e.g. Brexit style votes or elections) then we may impose temporary increased margin requirements for all customers.

What events trigger increased margin requirements?

Margin requirements may be temporarily increased around the following types of events:

You can use the publicly available economic calendar on our website to see when major news events are scheduled, which can help you plan your trading around these windows. We cannot guarantee all impacted events will be visible ahead of time on this page, or that it will always be available.

How does this affect my trading?

When margin protection is active on an instrument, opening a new position on that instrument will require more margin than usual. This means you may not be able to open as large a position as you normally would, or you may need more free margin available in your account to open the same size position.

If multiple events overlap - for example, a major news release occurs just before a session break - the margin increase may be larger than it would be for either event on its own.

It is important to note that only the margin required to open new positions is affected. The margin being used to maintain your existing open positions does not change during these periods.

How long does the increased margin last?

The increased margin requirement is fully automatic and temporary. It is applied shortly before the event begins and is removed shortly after the event has passed. You do not need to take any action - the system handles both the increase and the return to normal margin levels automatically.

For standard news events, the protection window covers a short period before and after the scheduled release time. For central bank press conferences, the window extends for a longer period after the event to account for the extended volatility that these announcements can produce.

Once the protection window closes, your margin requirements return to their normal levels without any intervention from you or from us.

Does this affect my existing open positions?

No. Our Flexible Risk Management system only changes the margin required to open new positions. The maintenance margin on your existing open positions remains the same throughout the protection window. Your existing positions will not be directly affected by the temporary margin increase.

If you already have positions open when margin protection activates, those positions continue to operate under the same margin conditions as before. Only new positions opened during the protection window are subject to the higher margin requirement.

Are my existing pending orders affected?

Yes. The initial margin required to open a position is calculated at the trade execution time, so regardless of when you created the pending order it would still require the increased margin amount to be opened during a period of increased margin.

Which accounts are affected?

This protection applies only to accounts with leverage set above 1:500. If your account leverage is 1:500 or lower, your margin requirements are not affected by this automated system and you will not notice any changes during news events or session breaks, except where we take special measures outside of normal trading conditions.

I also had my leverage reduced due to my account size. How do the two policies interact?

There are two separate risk management processes within our FRM system that may affect your account’s margin requirements, and they work independently of each other:

Both processes can apply to the same account at the same time. For example, if your total equity has resulted in your leverage being reduced to 1:800, your account is still above the 1:500 threshold, so you would also be subject to temporary margin increases around news events and session breaks. The two protections operate on different dimensions - one adjusts your account-level leverage setting based on your equity, while the other temporarily adjusts the margin rate on specific instruments based on market events.

If you have questions about either policy or how they apply to your specific account, please reach out to our support team.

Can I opt out of temporary margin increases?

No. Temporary margin increases around market events are an automatic risk management measure that applies to all eligible accounts. This is not something that can be disabled on a per-account basis. The system is designed to protect all parties from the elevated risk that exists during these market periods.

How do I know when margin protection is active?

You may notice that opening a new position requires more margin than expected, particularly around the time of major scheduled economic events or near market open and close times. If you are planning to open positions during these periods, we recommend checking an economic calendar in advance so that you are aware of upcoming events that may trigger temporary margin increases. You can view the current margin requirements in MT5 by right clicking on the symbol in Market Watch and selecting specifications.

If you attempt to open a position and find that your available margin is insufficient, it may be because margin protection is currently active on that instrument. You can try again once the protection window has passed, or reduce your intended position size to fit within the higher margin requirement.