Position size calculator

How the size is calculated

Position size = the amount you risk ÷ what one lot (or contract) loses between your entry and your stop. The calculator rounds the result down to a size you can actually trade, so the real risk is never more than you asked for, and shows that real risk next to it.

Forex

A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. On a pair quoted in US dollars, such as EUR/USD, one pip (0.0001) is worth $10 per lot. With $10,000, 1% risk and a 50-pip stop: $100 ÷ (50 × $10) = 0.20 lots. When the dollar is the base currency, as in USD/JPY, the pip value is converted with the pair’s own price: 1,000 yen ÷ 150 = about $6.67 per pip per lot. For a cross such as EUR/GBP or GBP/JPY the calculator asks for the current GBP/USD or USD/JPY price to make the same conversion.

Gold and silver

The calculator uses the common CFD lot of 100 ounces for gold (a $1 move is $100 per lot) and 5,000 ounces for silver. Some brokers use other lot sizes; check your broker’s contract specifications, and use the “Other” option with your own value if they differ.

Futures

Futures trade in whole contracts, and each tick has a fixed dollar value: $1.25 on the Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES), $12.50 on the E-mini (ES), $0.50 on the Micro Nasdaq (MNQ). A 10-point stop on MES is 40 ticks, or $50 per contract, so a $500 risk allows 10 contracts. When even one contract would risk more than you want, the calculator says so instead of rounding up.

Crypto

For Bitcoin and Ether the size is in coins: a $1,000 stop distance on one BTC loses $1,000, so a $100 risk is 0.1 BTC. Leverage changes the margin you need, not the loss at your stop.

Trading a prop firm challenge? The prop firm calculator shows how much room your daily loss limit and max drawdown leave, and how your risk per trade changes the odds of passing.