Forex Mini Account

A forex mini account is a foreign exchange (FX) account which allows beginning traders to enter the market using smaller trade lot quantities thus lowering the funds at risk. Forex trading accounts come in three sizes, standard, mini, and macro. 

The mini account allows the trader to enter into contract sizes of 10,000 base units rather than the 100,000 units of a standard lot. Likewise, the percentage in point (pip) movement cost or reward is smaller at $1 instead of the standard $10.

A forex mini account appeals to beginning traders because it offers smaller contract sizes and limits the amount of risk they take on as they gain forex trading experience. For the most part, mini account holders have access to the same materials as the regular account holders such as charts, trading platforms, and support. Standard forex accounts require order lots of 100,000 base units, Mini accounts allow 10,000 unit trades, and Micro accounts allow 1,000 base unit trades. Also, Standard accounts enter orders in multiples of 100,000, whereas mini account holders place them in multiples of 10,000. Micro accounts may use any multiple of 1,000.

The forex market trades in currency pairs with a quoted spread amount, such as EUR/USD 1.3000. Each trade is betting that one currency will change in their relationship to the other. This change in rate is known as the percentage in point (pip) movement. In the EUR/USD 1.3000 example, the trader thinks the base currency, the euro, will rise in value against the quote currency, the U.S. dollar. The trader is long the euro and short the USD. The rate of the quote shows to four decimal places, except for the rates of the Japanese Yen, which is two decimal places in length.

Forex markets measure price changes by the percentage in point pip to the fourth place, which represents the smallest possible change in price for a given currency. The changes in currency pairs are in fractions of a cent, so the average amount of money gained or lost on the trade of a single unit of currency tends to be vanishingly small, thus the 100,000, 10,000 and 1,000 quantity requirements. Forex brokers, who provide currency traders with access to a trading platform, make up for this by aggregating currency units into lots which provide traders with leverage.

The value of a pip fluctuates based on with the base currency funding of your account, and the currency pairs that you are trading. Where the account has a U.S. dollar base funding and the USD is the quote currency, one pip will be equal to $10 for standard accounts, $1 for Mini forex accounts, and $0.10 for Micro accounts. For pairs where the quote currency is from another nation, the pip will vary with that rate. 

A standard trade lot for someone using a standard USD base funded forex account is 100,000 units and therefore requires a substantial amount of capital to make an unleveraged purchase. Using the earlier example, the trade for the EUR/USD 1.3000 the euro moved up to 1.3085 by when the contract closes, making the pip .0085 (1.3000 - 1.3085 = .0085).

• Standard account 100,000 x .0085 = $850 earnings
• Mini account 10,000 x .0085 = $85 earnings
• Micro account 1,000 x .0085 = $8.50 earnings

Now, say the euro trade moved downward to 1.2995 giving a .0005 pip. 

• Standard account 100,000 x .0005 = $50 loss
• Mini account 10,000 x .0005 = $5 loss
• Micro account 1,000 x .0005 = $0.50 loss

Forex brokers typically offer leverage on all types of accounts to allow traders to participate in higher-risk trades with smaller capital outlays. With leverage, the broker will loan the trader enough money to take a larger position in the trade that would normally not be possible with their account funding. For example, a broker offering 100:1 leverage would allow a trader in a mini forex account to control a single 10,000-share lot with a capital outlay of only 1,000 units. This leverage magnifies both gains and losses, so using the above example, a $1,000 outlay would earn $85 at 100:1 leverage. A .0005-pip move against the trader would likewise cost $5, putting significantly more initial capital at risk.