Guide

Reading your account: balance, equity, margin

A trading account shows several amounts that do not mean the same thing. On the day positions are open at a loss, those figures drift apart, and that is usually when people wonder which one is “the real one”. This guide explains them one by one, in the order they appear in the broker's app.

Balance: what is locked in

The balance is the money on the account counting only closed positions. It moves only when a position is closed, when a swap is charged, when a profit share is taken, or when you deposit or withdraw money.

While positions are open, the balance does not change. That is its limit: it can show a comfortable figure while the open positions are losing.

Equity: what the account is worth now

Equity is the balance plus or minus the result of the positions still open. It is what the account would be worth if everything were closed right now.

It is the figure to watch. When it is below the balance, the difference is the unrealised loss: it has not been taken, but it will be if the positions are closed before the price comes back. When it is above, it is an unrealised gain.

With open positions, equity moves continuously, with every price change. Seeing it vary from one minute to the next is normal.

Margin: what the broker sets aside

To keep a position open, the broker sets aside part of the account: the margin. Its amount depends on the size of the position and on the leverage. With 1:500 leverage, a 0.1 lot position on AUDCAD, that is 10,000 Australian dollars, requires about 20 Australian dollars of margin, converted into the account currency.

Margin is neither a loss nor a cost. It is simply unavailable while the position is open, and it is released when the position is closed.

Two figures follow from it:

Free margin is equity minus the margin set aside. It is what is left to absorb unrealised losses and, if needed, open further positions.
Margin level is equity divided by the margin set aside, as a percentage. The higher it is, the more reserve the account has. It falls when equity falls or when positions are added.

What happens when margin runs out

If equity falls to a threshold set by the broker, the broker closes positions itself to protect the account: this is the stop out. The most losing positions are closed first, at the current price, without waiting for the market to come back. The unrealised loss then becomes a real loss.

The threshold depends on the broker and the account type. At Vantage, since February 2025, the margin call (a simple warning) is given when the margin level falls to 50%, and the stop out is triggered at 20%, on STP and ECN accounts outside the United Kingdom and Australia. In other words, positions are closed automatically when equity is worth only a fifth of the margin set aside. These thresholds can change; they are given in the broker's help centre. The point to remember: it is the margin level, hence equity, that triggers the stop out, never the balance.

In copy trading, another mechanism comes first: the global stop loss of the copy account, set at 95% as our set-up guide describes. If it triggers, it closes all copied positions and stops the copy. It too watches equity. Our guide The global stop loss explains why that level, and not lower.

An example

A €1,000 copy account with no open position shows: balance €1,000, equity €1,000, margin €0, free margin €1,000.

The strategy opens positions. A few days later, the price has moved the wrong way:

Fictional example, for a €1,000 copy account.
Figure	Amount	What it means
Balance	€1,000	Nothing has been taken or lost for good
Equity	€700	The open positions are losing €300 at this moment
Margin set aside	€60	Held to keep the positions open
Free margin	€640	What is left to absorb what comes next
Margin level	1,167%	Far from the 20% stop out

If the market comes back and the positions are closed at a gain, equity rises and the balance ends above €1,000. If the market keeps going the wrong way, equity and free margin keep falling, down to the global stop loss or, without one, down to the stop out.

On the Vantage copy screen

The Copy tab of the Vantage app does not use quite the same words. At the top of the screen, then on the card of the copied strategy, you read:

The four figures of the Copy tab in the Vantage app.
On screen	What it is
Available funds	The equity of the copy account: the balance plus or minus the result of open positions, that is what the account is worth right now
Total P&L	The result of the copy since it started: gains already closed plus the result of open positions
Balance	The balance: money locked in, closed positions only
Margin level	Equity divided by the margin set aside, as a percentage, with a gauge

The gap between “Available funds” and “Balance” is therefore the unrealised result of the open positions. A margin level of several thousand percent, as often seen on a copy account with few open positions, means the margin set aside is a tiny share of the account; it falls when positions are added or when equity drops.

Which one to watch, and when

To know what the account is worth: equity, always.
To measure a drawdown: equity too. A drawdown computed on the balance does not see open positions; that is the difference between the displayed drawdown and the floating drawdown.
To know whether the account is in danger: the margin level and the free margin.
To do your accounts at month or year end: the balance, which contains only what is realised. It is also the figure used for taxes.

With a strategy that keeps positions open for several days, seeing equity below the balance is common. It is not a signal in itself; what matters is how far it can fall, and that is the question covered on the Risks page.

And at PlanetFinance?

The strategy works with a basket of positions, which can stay open for days or weeks. On an account that copies it, a gap between balance and equity is therefore frequent. The estimated worst floating drawdown is about 75%, in April 2025, on a basket eventually closed at a gain; position sizes have been reduced since. The simulator on the Risks page applies that drawdown to the amount of your choice, to see what equity would show at the worst moment.

Since March 2026, the broker also temporarily reduces leverage at certain times of the week, which increases the margin set aside by positions opened during those windows: see our guide Dynamic leverage.