Japan's Financial Services Agency is considering lowering the maximum leverage allowed on foreign exchange trading by individuals as soon as this spring to curb risk taking. The agency is studying a proposal to bring the leverage cap from 25 to 1 down to 10 to 1, based on trends in historical market volatility. The change would increase the margin deposit required for trading the same amount of currency by 150% and lower the potential for investment gains. Forex traders use leverage -- in essence, money they do not have -- to magnify their gains. But it can have the opposite effect when the market moves against their ... (full story)