Spreads and margins
Trade smarter with competitive spreads on our full range of CFD instruments: forex, shares, cryptocurrencies, indices, metals, commodities and bonds CFDs.
Prices sourced from the MT5 platform. Prices are indicative and may be subject to delay.
Our retail margin and maximum leverage are governed by ASIC who set the margin rates and leverage parameters for different asset classes.
At certain times and in certain market conditions, our spreads could be wider than usual. This includes:
*Specifically indices CFDs which operate on an in hours and out of hours model in parallel with local trading hours for example in/out hours for US indices will be different to Australian indices.
Features
Margin
You can trade with leverage from your OANDA account. This means that you can enter into trades larger than your account balance and trade without depositing the full value of the trade you wish to open. One of the benefits of trading with leverage is that you could potentially generate large profits relative to the amount invested. On the other hand, trading with leverage could also result in significant, rapid losses to your capital.
The margin needed to open each trade is derived from the leverage limit associated with both your account type and the instrument you wish to trade.
Retail clients
As a retail client, your margin and maximum leverage is governed by ASIC who set the margin rates and leverage parameters for different underlying asset classes. See our OANDA Australia margin rates page for information about margin rates for Retail Clients.
Professional clients
As a Professional client you can take advantage of higher leverage for the majority of instruments. Maximum leverage and margin rates vary between different underlying asset classes. For more information, see our OANDA Australia Professional clients margin rates page.
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FAQs
Price volatility and changes in global market liquidity can result in large spread increases around market openings and closings, following news announcements, and during times of uncertainty. At such times, our spreads usually widen to reflect market conditions. However, there may be occasions during which we opt to implement a fixed spread rather than allowing a spread to continue to widen.
If you leave trades open during the weekend or before markets close, or in the event that a particular market is suspended, you cannot close them until the markets reopen. Note that prices may change significantly or "gap" when trading resumes. If prices move against you, a margin closeout may be triggered when trading resumes if you have insufficient funds on your account to support your trading.
Spreads (the difference between the bid price and the ask price) typically widen just prior to closure of the markets and when they open, to reflect decreased liquidity in the global markets. These widened spreads could trigger stop-loss orders or margin closeouts when a position is open at this time.
Margin calls are an important aspect of leveraged trading. If the balance in your account falls to a level that is close to the 50% margin close out rule, a margin call will be triggered. If this happens, you might want to consider adding more funds to your account or closing positions to make sure your account balance is greater than the margin required to maintain open positions.
The Margin Closeout Percent field on your V20 account indicates how near your positions are to margin closeout. The closer the Margin Closeout Percent is to 100%, the closer you are to a margin closeout. A Margin Call is triggered when Margin Closeout Percentage falls to 50%. Please note that in fast-moving markets there may be little or no time to warn you about imminent margin closeout. When margin closeout occurs on V20 (and MT4/ V20) accounts, all of your open positions will be closed. If trading is unavailable for certain open positions at the time of the margin closeout, those positions will remain open and OANDA will continue to monitor your account funds in relation to margin requirement. When the markets reopen for those remaining positions, they will be subject to margin closeout if the funds on your account remain below the margin requirement. You are responsible for monitoring your account to prevent margin closeouts.
You can avoid margin closeouts by reducing the amount of margin you are using. This can be done by closing some trades.
For more information see our learn section.