Leading Australia-based retail forex broker Pepperstone has announced a series of margin / leverage changes for its trading clients, which will take effect later this week ahead of next Sunday’s second round of voting to select a new President in France.
According to Pepperstone, the election will be a major test for the European Union and has the potential for extreme volatility, particularly in EUR based currency pairs.
As a result, Pepperstone will make temporary changes to the maximum leverage available on FX and CFD instruments.
Margin changes for any newly opened positions will apply as of Thursday the 4th of May 00:00 server time (GMT+3) while margin changes for all positions will apply as of Friday the 5th of May 00:00 server time (GMT+3). These changes will be in effect until Monday 8th May 00:00 server time (GMT+3).
New margin / leverage requirements for affected instruments are as follows:
| All Index CFDs | All EUR pairs | Other instruments | |
| Leverage Maximum | 50:1 | 100:1 | 200:1 |
In normal markets Pepperstone provides leverage of up to 500:1.
Pepperstone is advising its clients to carefully consider and evaluate the potential impact of the above changes, as well as the event itself on existing and future positions on these products.