Trader x has an account of USD 50'000.

He buys EUR/USD 500'000 @ 0.9400 at the market and places a stop loss order at 0.9360.

At this point his maximum risk is USD 2'000 and his margin utilisation is 10.68%, well above the minimum.

During the day the market fluctuates and initially moves down to 0.9380.

At this point trader x has an unrealised loss of USD 1'000 and his margin utilisation has fallen to 10.47% reflecting the effect of the downward move on his margin capacity.

Later still the price moves back up to 0.9450 and trader x decides to take profit. He sells at 0.9450 making a USD 2'500 profit which represents a 5% return on his account value. Note that trader x took only a risk of USD 2'000 and made a return of USD 2'500 this equates to a risk/reward ratio of 1.25. A high risk reward ratio is what every trader should be aiming for.

The viewer should note that the example above is a random case scenario and in no way is meant to allude that the potential for profit is greater than the potential for loss in foreign exchange trading.