Forex trading with low and stable spreads³

The most popular currency pairs to trade are the ones that offer the most liquidity - i.e. the ones that people trade the most.

These include FX majors like AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, and USDJPY. These currency trading pairs are all available to trade completely swap-free at AthenaAvo, so you can hold your positions for longer at no extra charge.

Other popular currency pairs that traders like to add to their portfolios are FX minors. These include AUDCAD, CADCHF, EURAUD, GBPCHF, and more. Most FX minors are also available with no overnight charges at AthenaAvo.

You can see exactly which minors are included in the swap-free program in the instruments table on this page.

Leverage is essentially the ability to place trades with the use of borrowed capital. Your broker gives you a sort of loan to add to your funds, so you can use less of your own money, but still access larger trading positions.

When combined with a solid risk management strategy, leverage in forex can lead to greater returns from FX trading, because it makes capitalizing on smaller price movements more lucrative. But it can also lead to greater losses if you don't combine it with a well-thought-out risk management strategy.

To avoid excess losses and increase your chances of higher returns, make sure you plan your risk strategy and maintain a sensible level of exposure before choosing your preferred leverage option.

Margin in online forex trading is basically the amount of money that you need to open a position. It acts as collateral against any price movements. Forex brokers usually determine this as a percentage of the total position size, based on your chosen leverage.

To open a forex trade online, you need to have enough funds in your account to meet the margin requirement for the trade. You can gain more control over your trades by setting an appropriate margin level that aligns with your overall risk management strategy.

The maximum leverage that you can use on your account depends on your account’s equity:

• 0 – 999 USD: maximum leverage 1:Unlimited

• 0 – 4,999 USD: maximum leverage 1:2000

• 5,000 – 29,999 USD: maximum leverage 1:1000

• 30,000 USD or more: maximum leverage 1:500

When important news is released, significant volatility and gaps can occur. Using high leverage in a highly volatile market is risky because sudden movements can result in larger losses. That’s why we cap leverage at 1:200 during news releases for all new positions for instruments impacted.

In cases when these intervals of increased margin requirements for different news releases are less than 15 minutes apart, these periods may be merged into one long period for the instruments involved. You’ll receive an email from us giving you full details of changes to margin requirements on your trading platform.

When the specified period has passed, the margin on positions opened during the period is recalculated based on the amount of funds in the account and the selected leverage value.

An increased margin rule also applies to all forex trading that happens during weekends. All instruments during this period are subject to a maximum leverage of 1:200. Holidays are slightly different as only certain instruments and markets may be affected by this rule. When there is a change in margin requirements due to holidays, we will inform you via email.

Margin requirements for the opening of new positions will be calculated on a maximum leverage of 1:200 from Friday at 18:00 GMT (three hours before the forex market closes) to Sunday at 22:00 GMT (one hour after the market opens).

For one hour after the market opens, your positions will remain at the increased margin requirements.

One hour after the market opening, the margin on positions opened during the period of increased margin requirements is recalculated based on the amount of funds in your account and the leverage you’ve set.