EUR/USD long with 1% risk
Account $10,000, risk 1% = $100. Entry 1.08500, stop 1.08300 (20 pips). Pip value $10/lot. Position size = $100 ÷ (20 × $10) = 0.50 lots (50,000 units).
Free Position Size Calculator for Forex, Gold, Crypto & any chart
Calculate the exact lot size, pip value, and risk for any trade in seconds — no signup required. Used by thousands of traders worldwide. Works with every broker.
How to Use the Position Size Calculator
Follow these five steps to work out the perfect lot size for your next trade.
- 1
Pick the instrument
Choose the pair or asset you're trading — EUR/USD, XAU/USD, BTC/USD, and 200+ more instruments are supported.
- 2
Enter your account balance
Type in your current balance (or override with any amount) in USD. This is the base for risk calculation.
- 3
Set your risk per trade
Choose a percentage (1–2% is standard) or a fixed dollar amount. The calculator converts between the two automatically.
- 4
Enter entry, stop-loss, and take-profit
Type the prices directly or click on the live chart. The calculator handles multi-level SL/TP with tranche allocations.
- 5
Read the result
Position size in standard lots, pip value, required margin, and per-tranche P&L all update live as you type.
The Position Size Formula
Position sizing is simple arithmetic, but the pip-value conversion trips most traders up. Here is the canonical formula:
Position Size (lots) = (Account × Risk %) ÷ (Stop-Loss in pips × Pip Value per Lot)- Account
- Your trading account balance in the account's base currency (usually USD).
- Risk %
- The fraction of the account you're willing to lose on this trade. 1% is the industry standard.
- Stop-Loss in pips
- Distance between entry and stop-loss, measured in pips. For EUR/USD, 1 pip = 0.0001. For XAU/USD, 1 pip = 0.1.
- Pip Value per Lot
- The dollar change per pip at 1 standard lot (100,000 units). For USD-quoted FX pairs this is always $10/pip. For XAU/USD it's $10/pip. For JPY-quoted pairs it depends on the USD/JPY rate.
The calculator handles all of this automatically — including pip-size detection per instrument and live conversion for cross pairs.
Worked Examples
Three concrete scenarios to show the calculator in action.
XAU/USD short with 0.5% risk
Account $25,000, risk 0.5% = $125. Entry 2,415.0, stop 2,420.0 (50 pips at 0.1 pip size). Pip value $10/lot. Position size = $125 ÷ (50 × $10) = 0.25 lots.
BTC/USD long with 2% risk
Account $5,000, risk 2% = $100. Entry $64,200, stop $63,200 ($1,000 stop). Contract size varies by broker; with $1/point pip value, position size = $100 ÷ 1,000 = 0.10 lots.
Why Position Sizing Is the #1 Rule in Trading
Most retail traders blow up accounts not because their analysis is wrong, but because they size positions wrong. A 10% stop-loss on a 1% edge turns a profitable system into a losing one purely through variance.
Position sizing is the bridge between your strategy and your risk tolerance. Without it, every trade is a gamble on the size of the bet, not on the quality of the setup.
The professional approach: fix your risk per trade (typically 0.5–2% of equity) and let the calculator work out lot size backwards from your stop-loss distance. Your wins and losses scale with your account, and no single trade can knock you out.
This calculator does exactly that — in a fraction of a second, for any pair, at any leverage — so you can focus on the trade, not the math.
Supported Instruments
The calculator works for every instrument offered by major retail brokers:
Forex majors
EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD, NZD/USD
Forex crosses
EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, AUD/JPY, EUR/CHF, GBP/CHF, CHF/JPY, and every other major cross
Metals
XAU/USD (Gold), XAG/USD (Silver)
Crypto
BTC/USD, ETH/USD, and all major crypto pairs
Indices
US30, US100, US500, NAS100, SPX500, GER30
Commodities
USOIL (WTI Crude), UKOIL (Brent)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a position size calculator?
A position size calculator works out the exact lot size for a trade given your account balance, the risk you're willing to take, and the distance from entry to stop-loss. It protects you from accidentally risking too much on a single trade.
How do you calculate position size in Forex?
Position size = (Account balance × Risk %) ÷ (Stop-loss distance in pips × Pip value per lot). For a $10,000 account risking 1% with a 20-pip stop on EUR/USD: $100 ÷ (20 × $10) = 0.50 lots.
What is the position size formula?
The standard formula is Risk Amount ÷ (Stop-Loss in Pips × Pip Value per Lot). Risk Amount is your account balance multiplied by the percentage you're risking on the trade.
What's a good risk percentage per trade?
1% of account equity per trade is the professional standard. Aggressive traders use up to 2%. Anything above 2% exposes the account to ruin over a normal losing streak.
How do I calculate lot size for Gold (XAU/USD)?
For Gold, 1 pip is typically $0.10 per ounce, and 1 standard lot is 100 ounces — so the pip value is $10 per lot. Use the same formula as FX: Risk ÷ (Stop in pips × $10).
What is pip value and how is it calculated?
Pip value is the dollar change on your position for each one-pip move in price. For USD-quoted FX pairs at 1 standard lot, 1 pip = $10. For JPY-quoted pairs it depends on the USD/JPY rate. For crypto it depends on the contract size.
How does leverage affect position size?
Leverage does not change position size — it changes the margin required. A 0.50-lot EUR/USD trade uses the same risk whether you use 1:10 or 1:500 leverage; only the margin posted differs. The calculator shows both.
What's the difference between lot size and position size?
In FX, position size is typically expressed in standard lots (1 lot = 100,000 units of the base currency). 'Lot size' and 'position size' are often used interchangeably. Mini lots are 0.10, micro lots are 0.01.
How do I calculate position size for crypto?
Crypto is usually quoted directly in USD, so the 'pip' is the minimum price tick. Use the same formula: Risk Amount ÷ (Stop distance × value-per-unit). The calculator auto-detects the pip size for BTC, ETH, and other majors.
Why is position sizing important in trading?
Position sizing is the single biggest determinant of whether a trading account survives long enough to become profitable. Correctly sized positions let you trade through losing streaks without blowing up; oversized positions turn variance into account death.
Can I use this calculator for any broker?
Yes. The calculator works with standard-lot conventions used by every major broker (MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, Binance, etc.). Pip sizes are detected automatically per instrument.
Is this position size calculator free?
Yes — completely free, no signup required. If you'd like to save your settings and track trades across devices, you can create a free account, but the calculator itself is fully functional for anonymous users.
Key Terms
- Pip
- The smallest standard price move for an instrument. For EUR/USD, 1 pip = 0.0001; for USD/JPY, 1 pip = 0.01; for XAU/USD, 1 pip = 0.1.
- Lot
- A standardized trade size. 1 standard lot in FX = 100,000 units of the base currency; 0.1 = mini lot; 0.01 = micro lot.
- Leverage
- The ratio between position notional and margin required. 1:100 leverage means $1,000 margin controls $100,000 notional.
- Margin
- The capital locked up to hold a position open. Calculated as Notional ÷ Leverage.
- Risk-to-reward (R:R)
- The ratio between the dollar amount risked (to stop-loss) and the dollar amount targeted (to take-profit). 1:2 means you're risking $1 to make $2.
Ready for the full platform?
PTF bundles a pro trading journal, broker auto-sync, live economic calendar, discipline shield, and mentor chat — all built around the same numerical engine you're using right now.