In the light of the recent events around the Swiss Franc, the Russian Ruble crisis might seem to many as a long-forgotten dream. And yet, trading with RUB pairs remains suspended or heavily restricted at numerous Forex companies.
The situation with Ruble liquidity seems to be getting back to normal at Russia’s Forex broker Alpari, which today announced a pending relaxation of margin requirements for two of the most traded Ruble pairs: USD/RUB and EUR/RUB. The change is poised to come into effect on January 21, 2015 and will apply to standard.mt4, ecn.mt4, pro.mt4 and pamm.mt4 accounts with the broker.
The change can be summarized in two words: floating leverage. As the wording suggests, the leverage can be changed, with Alpari doing that based on the nominal value of your position (the value of the contract).
You can take a look at the table below to view the specifications.
Perhaps an algebra example will be useful here. Let’s assume that the nominal value of your position with USDRUB is $5,000,000. According to the new leverage rules:
- For the first $1,500,000, you get a leverage of 1:50.
- For the next $1,500,000, you get a leverage of 1:25.
- For the remaining $2,000,000, the leverage will be 1:10.
The move marks a significant hike in the leverage on RUB pairs offered by Alpari. As you perhaps recall, in the middle of the Ruble liquidity crisis in December 2014, that leverage was capped at 1:10. It has remained at this fixed level ever since.
You can find out more about the improved leverage conditions here.