Deciding how much to trade, known as position sizing, is key for traders at every level. This calculator tells you exactly how many lots, shares or units to trade so that if your stop loss is hit, you lose only the amount you decided in advance.
Position Size Calculator
How many lots or shares to trade for the risk you choose.
Exchange rates: ECB reference rates of 28 Oct 2026. Results are estimates for information only, not financial advice. Trading on leverage carries a high risk of losing money.
How To Use The Calculator
- Choose the market. Pick Forex for currency pairs, or Stocks / CFDs / crypto for anything priced per share or unit.
- Set your account currency and balance. The account currency is set to your local currency where possible. You can change it if your trading account uses another one.
- Choose how much to risk. Select Risk % to risk a share of your balance, or Risk amount to enter a fixed sum.
- Enter your stop loss. For forex, pick the currency pair and enter the stop distance in pips. For other markets, enter your entry price, your stop-loss price and the currency the instrument trades in.
The result updates as you type and shows:
- Position size: in standard lots for forex, or in shares and units for other markets.
- Amount at risk: what you lose if the stop loss is hit.
- Units and position value: the full size of the trade, converted to your account currency.
- Mini and micro lots: the same size expressed in 0.1 and 0.01 lots, handy if your broker uses these (most providers we’ve tested do).
Why Position Size Matters
Two traders can take the same trade, with the same entry and the same stop loss, and get very different results. This difference can be due to how big the trade is. Trade too large and a normal losing streak can wipe out a large part of your account. Trade the right size and even 10 losses in a row should leave you able to keep trading.
Many experienced traders, including some of the DayTrading.com team, only risk between 0.5% and 2% of their account on each trade. With a $10,000 account and 1% risk, a losing trade costs $100, whatever the market and however wide the stop loss. The position size is what you adjust to make that true.
The Formula
Position size = amount at risk ÷ (stop-loss distance × value per pip or point).
For example, with a $10,000 account, 1% risk and a 20-pip stop on EUR/USD, the amount at risk is $100. One pip on a standard lot of EUR/USD is worth $10, so a 20-pip stop costs $200 per lot. The right size is $100 ÷ $200 = 0.50 lots.