How to Read Your Trading Account

Your trading account displays a handful of numbers that together describe how much money you have, how much is committed to open positions, how those positions are performing and how close you are to any margin limits. In the JDGlobalFX terminal these appear in the Account section as Balance, Equity, Margin, Free Margin and Margin Level, with per-position detail in the rows above. Knowing what each figure means, and which one to watch, is essential before you place a live trade.

The five account figures

When no positions are open, equity equals balance, margin is zero, free margin equals balance, and margin level is not displayed. As soon as a position opens, all five become meaningful.

Balance versus equity

Balance is the figure most beginners look at, and it is the least informative while positions are open. It only changes when a trade closes, a swap is applied, a deposit or withdrawal is processed, or a commission is charged. A position that is 500 USD in profit does not affect balance at all until it is closed.

Equity is the number that matters in real time. It rises and falls with every tick as open positions gain or lose value. If you had to close everything at this instant, equity is approximately what you would be left with. Because margin level is calculated from equity, it is also the figure that determines whether you are approaching a stop-out.

A worked example

Suppose an account has a balance of 10,000 USD and two open positions on a 1:100 leverage setting:

• Long 1.00 lot EUR/USD opened at 1.1000, now showing +150 USD floating profit. Margin = (1.00 × 100,000 × 1.1000) ÷ 100 = 1,100 USD.
• Short 0.50 lot GBP/USD opened at 1.2700, now showing −400 USD floating loss. Margin = (0.50 × 100,000 × 1.2700) ÷ 100 = 635 USD.

The account figures would read:

If both positions were closed at these prices, balance would become 9,750 USD less any commissions and swaps not yet reflected, equity would equal balance, and margin would return to zero. Our guide to how to calculate margin covers the margin arithmetic in more depth.

Reading the position rows

Each open position on the Trade tab shows a set of columns. The most important are:

• Symbol, Type and Volume: what you are trading, whether long (buy) or short (sell), and in how many lots.
• Price: the open price, followed by the current price at which the position would close (bid for longs, ask for shorts).
• S/L and T/P: the stop-loss and take-profit levels attached to the position. Blank cells mean none is set.
• Swap: the cumulative overnight financing applied so far. Negative values are charges; positive values are credits. See what is swap.
• Commission: the fee charged on the opening side, where the account type carries a commission.
• Profit: the floating profit or loss from price movement alone, in account currency.

Note that the Profit column does not include swap or commission; those are shown separately and all three combine to give the net effect on equity. A trade that shows +20 USD profit with −25 USD swap accumulated is a net loser, and the Trade tab makes that visible if you read all the columns.

In hedging mode, each trade appears as a separate row. In netting mode, all trades on one symbol are consolidated into a single row showing the net volume and average price. Confirm which mode your account uses, as it changes how the list is interpreted.

Pending orders

Pending orders appear below open positions on the same tab, distinguished by their type (Buy Limit, Sell Stop and so on) and by having no floating profit. They do not use margin until they are triggered and become positions, though the platform will reject a pending order whose trigger would require more margin than is available. Their trigger price, any attached stop loss and take profit, and their expiry are all shown in the row.

The History tab

The History tab records closed trades, deposits, withdrawals and balance operations. Set the date range with the right-click menu to review a specific period. For each closed trade you will see the open and close prices and times, the volume, the commission, the swap and the realised profit. The bottom of the tab totals profit, commission, swap and the net result for the period.

This is the raw material for evaluating your trading. Exporting the history to a spreadsheet lets you calculate win rate, average win and loss, the effect of costs and the performance of individual instruments, which are the inputs to reviewing and refining a trading plan.

Margin level and what to watch for

Margin level is the account's early-warning system. Brokers publish a margin-call level and a stop-out level, and both are expressed as margin-level percentages. Above the margin-call level, nothing happens. Between the two levels, the platform typically highlights the account and prevents new positions. At the stop-out level, the platform closes positions automatically until margin level recovers.

A comfortable margin level depends on your strategy and how many positions you hold, but as a general observation, an account regularly operating below a few hundred percent is holding large positions relative to its equity. If margin level is falling, the choice is to reduce exposure by closing positions or to add funds; waiting for the market to reverse is not a plan. JDGlobalFX's margin-call and stop-out thresholds are set out in the published trading conditions on the trading accounts page and in the risk disclosure.

Account currency and conversions

All figures are shown in the account's base currency. When you trade an instrument whose quote currency differs, the platform converts profit, loss, swap and margin at the prevailing rate. This means the cash value of a pip changes with exchange rates, and the margin required for a position can drift as the conversion rate moves.

Key takeaways

• Balance is realised cash; equity is balance plus floating profit or loss and is the real-time value of the account.
• Margin is collateral locked for open positions; free margin is equity minus margin.
• Margin level = (equity ÷ margin) × 100 and determines proximity to margin call and stop-out.
• The Profit column excludes swap and commission; read all three columns to see a position's true net result.
• The History tab records closed trades with full cost detail and is the basis for reviewing performance.
• Falling margin level calls for reducing exposure, not waiting; check the broker's published thresholds.