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Leverage News

Leverage is an investment strategy that involves using borrowed capital or a combination of different derivative instruments to increase the potential rate of return on investments made in various markets and across many asset classes. Although borrowing funds used by companies to finance assets is also known as leverage, the term is normally used to denote an investment style that depends on appropriating investor funds to short-term positions with the aim of generating exponential profits over a brief timeframe.

Using leverage can expose investors to unlimited risk, especially if the capital is used to sell derivative instruments, such as options and futures, in the event that the price moves opposite to the desired direction. Generally practiced by institutional investors, large banks and hedge funds, there is a growing trend of retail investors using leverage to access expensive trading opportunities in the hope of profiting from an event or a price trend reversal in a particular asset.

In the cryptocurrency space, most centralized exchanges allow leverage trading to enable users to trade larger amounts. Leveraged trading can increase potential gains, but it also carries a high risk, particularly in the volatile cryptocurrency market. For example, the exchange may be forced to sell users’ assets and liquidate holdings if the market goes in the opposite direction of their position.