Leverage & Margin at Unicapital Securities

Leverage in the retail sense, borrowed buying power on currency pairs and CFDs, does not exist at Unicapital Securities. The firm is a SEC Philippines-licensed broker/dealer and a Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) trading participant operating in the local cash equity market. Margin here means settlement obligations and limited financing on PSE-listed shares, not 1:100 or 1:500 accounts.

That distinction matters for Filipino traders who arrive expecting the leverage ratios advertised by offshore brokers.

What the leverage ratio actually is

The leverage ratio on PSE cash-market trading is 1:1. You pay for the shares you buy. A PHP 10,000 account buys roughly PHP 10,000 of stock, less commission and fees. There is no multiplier sitting behind your capital.

This is not a policy choice unique to Unicapital Securities. It is the structure of the venue. The PSE is a cash equity exchange, and its trading participants settle trades in full. Derivatives and margin products live on separate legal frameworks that this broker does not operate under in the Philippines.

No forex, so no leverage question

Retail forex and CFD trading at Unicapital Securities does not exist. The instrument list is PSE-listed equities, with references to mutual funds, bonds and other securities available through the account. None of those carry the leveraged structure that defines a margin account at an offshore broker.

Filipino traders searching for leverage ratios are usually comparing offshore brokers, where the SEC PH has no local retail forex or CFD dealer licensing regime. That is a separate market. The ratio question belongs to those platforms, not to this one.

What the BSP says about retail leverage

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) framed locally offered retail FX leverage around a 1:25 maximum under Circular No. 969 of 2017. That figure applies to products offered inside the local regulatory perimeter. Because the SEC does not currently issue retail CFD dealer licences, most Filipino clients meet ratios of 1:100 up to 1:500+ on offshore-regulated platforms.

Reform proposals to tighten CFD leverage toward roughly 1:20 to 1:30 have been discussed, but as of the last review they were not confirmed enacted. Verify the current status with the BSP.

Margin, in the cash-market sense

Because there is no leveraged product, the margin question becomes a settlement and buying-power question. Trades on the PSE settle on a T+2 cycle. Funds must be in the account to cover the purchase. If you sell, the proceeds land on the same cadence, and the sell side carries an additional 0.6% stock transaction tax on top of commission of about 0.25% plus 12% VAT and the PSE, SCCP and transfer fees.

The practical effect is that a PHP 10,000 minimum initial investment buys what PHP 10,000 buys. There is no structure where a small deposit controls a large notional position, which removes one source of loss but also removes the amplified upside that leveraged traders pursue.

The fine print worth checking

The costs stack up in a way that is common to Philippine cash equities but is often missed by readers who assume a flat commission. Commission runs around 0.25%, then 12% VAT on the commission, then PSE, SCCP and transfer fees, and on a sell the 0.6% stock transaction tax. On a modest trade size these add up to a materially higher effective cost than the headline commission suggests.

Funding is by local bank transfer to the broker account. Specific methods such as GCash or Maya were not verified at the last review, so confirm what is accepted before opening the account. The base currency is PHP, which removes the PHP-USD conversion spread that offshore brokers typically pass on to Filipino clients, worth roughly 1% to 3% on each conversion.

Taxation of gains is handled under the BIR framework. Forex and CFD profit is treated as ordinary income, but that regime is relevant to offshore activity, not to the PSE cash equities you would hold here. For local share sales, the 0.6% stock transaction tax is embedded in the sale process.

When the leverage question points elsewhere

The leverage ratio topic at Unicapital Securities resolves quickly because the product does not exist here. Where the analysis becomes useful is when a Filipino trader is weighing a cash equity account against a leveraged offshore platform.

For pure exposure to Philippine shares, the local cash structure keeps costs transparent and removes the FX conversion layer. For leveraged FX or index CFD exposure, the venue is offshore, and the relevant criteria are the oversight quality of the regulator (FCA, CySEC, ASIC), client fund segregation, documented fee schedules, and a track record long enough to be verifiable. The SEC PH advisories list changes as firms are named; the regulator has published advisories covering platforms including Exness and HFM, Interactive Brokers, VT Markets, and FBS at various points. That list is dynamic, so verifying a current entry is a routine step, not a one-time check.

If leverage is the core of what you are looking for, the choice should be made on regulatory quality and capital protection, not on the highest advertised multiplier. A 1:500 ratio on a thin margin base is not an advantage if the withdrawal terms, fund segregation or dispute process are unclear.

What weighed in the balance

Unicapital Securities competes on regulation and settlement transparency in the Philippine cash market, not on leverage. Anyone evaluating it against a leveraged offshore platform is comparing products that do not share a risk structure. The ratio is 1:1, and that single number settles most of the argument about whether this is a leveraged venue.