Profit measured against the margin posted rather than against total account equity, which flatters leveraged results.
Return on margin divides profit by the capital the broker required. A futures trade that makes $900 on $4,500 of initial-margin is a 20% return on margin - and possibly a 0.9% return on a $100,000 account.
Both numbers are true and only one is relevant to compounding. Marketing material and prop-firm screenshots quote the first; your actual growth rate depends on the second, because idle capital still has to sit there to survive drawdown and meet a margin-call.
When comparing strategies, always convert to return on total equity, and state the margin-utilisation alongside it. A strategy earning 15% a year using 8% of margin can theoretically be levered; one earning 15% at 80% utilisation cannot, and that difference is the whole story.
Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.
Margin and leverage. A $5,000 deposit can control a $100,000 position, which is 20:1 leverage. Because the loss is measured on the full $100,000, a 2.5% move against you halves the deposit and brings a margin call, and a 5% move uses all of it.
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