Lot size calculator

Turn your balance, risk and stop into a position size for any forex pair or futures contract. Free, instant and no sign-up.

Your account

The trade

Position size

0.50 lots

Rounded down to 0.01 lots. That is 50,000 units, or 50 micro lots.

Amount at risk
$100
Pip value per lot
$10
Risk at this size
$100
Share of balance
1%

Calculated in your browser; nothing you type is sent. Excludes spread, commission and slippage. The arithmetic only, not financial advice.

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The lot size formula

Decide what you can lose on the trade, then divide it by what one lot loses if your stop is hit. The stop sets the size, not the other way round: a wider stop means a smaller position for the same risk.

amount at risk = balance × risk %
pip value per lot = 100,000 × pip size × conversion to your account currency
lot size = amount at risk ÷ (stop in pips × pip value per lot)

A pip is 0.0001 on most pairs and 0.01 on JPY pairs. When the pair's quote currency is your account currency, the conversion is 1, which is why EUR/USD on a USD account is $10 per pip per lot. Futures work the same way with a fixed tick value in place of the pip value.

Worked example

A $10,000 USD account risks 1% on EUR/USD with a 20 pip stop.

  1. 1

    Set the amount at risk

    $10,000 × 1% = $100.
  2. 2

    Find the pip value

    100,000 × 0.0001 = $10 per pip on one standard lot. USD is both the quote and the account currency, so no conversion is needed.
  3. 3

    Divide

    $100 ÷ (20 pips × $10) = 0.50 lots. If the stop is hit, you lose $100, or 1% of the account.

With a USD account on USD/JPY at 150, a pip on one lot is ¥1,000, which is $6.67, so the same trade is 0.75 lots. On futures, a $50,000 account risking 0.5% has $250 to spend: a 10 point stop on MES costs $50 per contract, so that is 5 contracts.

Futures tick values

These are the contract specifications the calculator uses. Tick values are in US dollars, so any other account currency needs an exchange rate.

Tick size and tick value for common futures contracts
SymbolContractTick sizeTick value
ESE-mini S&P 5000.25$12.50
MESMicro E-mini S&P 5000.25$1.25
NQE-mini Nasdaq-1000.25$5
MNQMicro E-mini Nasdaq-1000.25$0.50
YME-mini Dow1$5
MYMMicro E-mini Dow1$0.50
RTYE-mini Russell 20000.1$5
M2KMicro E-mini Russell 20000.1$0.50
CLCrude Oil0.01$10
MCLMicro Crude Oil0.01$1
GCGold0.1$10
MGCMicro Gold0.1$1
SISilver0.005$25

Frequently asked questions

A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. A mini lot is 10,000 units (0.10 lots) and a micro lot is 1,000 units (0.01 lots). So 0.50 lots of EUR/USD is 50,000 euros.

On a standard lot, a pip is worth 10 units of the quote currency, or 1,000 units on JPY pairs, where a pip is 0.01. EUR/USD is $10 per pip on a USD account. On any other account currency, that figure is converted at the current exchange rate.

When the pair is not quoted in your account currency, the pip value has to be converted, and the conversion changes with the market. This page does not fetch live prices, so it asks for the one rate it needs. Use the current quote from your broker.

Rounding up would risk more than you chose. Forex sizes round down to 0.01 lots and futures to whole contracts, and the result shows what the rounded size really risks. If your budget is below the smallest size, the calculator says so.

Many traders use a fixed 0.5% to 2% of the account, but there is no correct number. It depends on your strategy, your drawdown tolerance and any limits your broker or prop firm sets. This page does the sums; the decision is yours.

Yes. A stop can fill at a worse price in a fast market or over a gap, and spreads, commission and swaps are not included here. Treat the result as the planned risk, not a maximum loss.