Leverage allows traders to borrow money and use that money to invest in the foreign exchange market. Because of leverage, clients without a huge amount of capital are able to make large investments, whereas in other markets such as the equities market, clients would have to pay 50% of the full amount for each share of stock they were investing in. Most market makers allow positions to be leveraged up to 100:1. This means that if a trader wanted to buy a "lot" worth $100,000, with 100:1 leverage the trader only has to put up $1,000. Leverage is about risk. Increasing your leverage increases both your opportunity to take bigger profits AND rack up bigger losses.

It's easy to see in this graph that the amount of margin required in taking positions in the currencies market is much less than in the equities and futures markets.

As you know FXDD is in the process of registering with the CFTC and joining the NFA. In order to complete our registration process FXDD must be in full compliance with all applicable NFA and CFTC regulations. We are taking this opportunity to advise you that beginning Sunday November 29th, 2009 FXDD will implement strict compliance with all applicable CFTC and NFA Regulations. Going forward, FXDD’s back office system will be the official statement of record for all accounts. Meta Trader statements will not be recognized as official records. FXDD’s back office is compliant with all CFTC and NFA regulations regarding hedging and FIFO. Also, leverage will be adjusted to comply with NFA regulations. The following is a list of changes that will be executed:

1. Leverage will be set at 100:1 for major currencies; all others will have a leverage of 25:1. The only currencies affected by the 25:1 will be the USD/TRY and the USD/MXN. Gold and silver leverage will be set at 100:1 We urge you to examine your positions now and determine if and how the change in leverage will affect you. FXDD’s pip calculator is a useful tool:
   http://www.fxdd.com/en/forex-trading-tools/calculators.html.
   
   
2. Going forward, the official FXDD account statements will show positions offset on a FIFO (first in, first out) basis.
   
   
3. FXDD’s back office does not recognize hedging. FXDD’s back office is a position based system and all opposing orders are offset immediately. Going forward the official FXDD account statements will show opposite positions being offset immediately. Please note: this change will not affect your trading style and will not affect your EA if you use one.
   
   
4. You will no longer receive a daily MetaTrader statement via email. Official daily and monthly account statements will be emailed to you directly from the FXDD back office. You may, however, retrieve a complete trading history for your account from the “Account History” tab in the terminal on the MetaTrader platform. Please note that the trading history provided on the MetaTrader platform is for trade ticket reference only, and is not an official account statement.
   
   
5. Shortly you will be given access to FXDD’s back office report viewer that will give you real time access to the back office and allow you to create and print detailed account statements.
   
   
6. We urge you to download the latest compliant version of Meta Trader at
   http://www.fxdd.com/en/download