Position Size Calculator

Work out how many lots to trade so that hitting your stop loss costs exactly the share of your account you planned to risk.

Account balance (USD)Risk per trade (%)SymbolEUR/USDGBP/USDAUD/USDNZD/USDUSD/JPYUSD/CHFUSD/CADXAU/USD (gold)XAG/USD (silver)Other (enter pip value)Stop loss (pips)

Position size

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lots

Amount at risk

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USD

Units

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Risk at the rounded size

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USD

Lots are rounded down to 0.01. One standard lot is 100,000 units; for gold 100 ounces, for silver 5,000 ounces. Check your broker’s contract size before trading.

How it works

Position size = amount at risk ÷ (stop loss in pips × pip value per lot). With a 1,000 USD account and 1% risk you can lose 10 USD. With a 20-pip stop on EUR/USD, where one pip on one lot is worth 10 USD, that is 10 ÷ (20 × 10) = 0.05 lots.

For USD/JPY, USD/CHF and USD/CAD the pip value depends on the current price, so enter it. For gold and silver, enter the stop as a price distance in dollars: a 5 USD stop on one lot of gold (100 ounces) costs 500 USD.

Why 1% matters

Keeping each loss small is what lets an account survive a losing streak. Ten losses in a row at 1% risk leave about 90% of the account; at 5% they leave about 60%.