Balance
Balance is the traders net deposits to their account, plus or minus any realised profits and losses and associated fees.
A simple example of balance is a trader deposits $250 into their trading account, places a trade and makes $50 on a closed trade. Assuming no other actions have taken place, after they closed the trader their balance would be $300.
Equity
Equity is the account balance, plus or minus the profit or loss from all open trades. In theory it is the amount that which if a trader closed all their open positions immediately they would have available to withdraw (minus any associated fees).
Running P/L
Running P/L is the current profit and loss of all open trades on the account. These are unrealised and can continue to fluctuate with market move.
Margin
Margin is the amount of funds required as a deposit to open and maintain trades. The margin amount varies between account types and products.
Free Margin
Free margin is the current value of funds that are not being used as margin required to hold the open trades. It is the difference between the account Equity and the Margin required to hold the open trades.
Free margin is the buffer amount that can be used to support market movements on your existing trades, and the margin required to open new trades.
Example – the Equity on your account is $1250 and the Margin required is $250. The difference is +$1000. This is the Free margin on the account at the time.
When it comes time to withdraw funds, you can withdraw your Free margin so long as the withdrawal amount is greater than your current Balance.
Note, it is not possible to withdraw funds that puts your balance into negative, regardless of how large the Free margin is.
Margin Level
Margin level is a percentage figure that is the account equity divided by the account margin requirement x 100. ThinkMarkets has a Margin Call level of 100% across all account and platforms. A figure at or below 100% means the account is in a Margin Call and no new exposure can be established. You can close or part close trades however.
Once the Margin Level drops further the account is at risk of having some or all positions automatically closed.
Read more about the Margin Stop Out Level.