Position size calculator for forex, gold, and crypto.
Enter your account balance, how much you want to risk, and your stop loss. The calculator returns the position size in lots and units, the dollar risk, and the pip value — for major and cross forex pairs, gold (XAU/USD), and crypto. Account currency is USD.
Calculator
How position size is calculated
Position size = amount at risk ÷ (stop distance × value per unit of distance). For forex, the stop distance is in pips and the value is the pip value per lot: $10 on a standard lot of any pair quoted in USD, 100,000 × 0.01 ÷ price for USD/JPY, and the quote currency's pip value converted to dollars for crosses. Gold uses dollars of price movement × ounces per lot; crypto uses dollars of movement per coin.
Sizing from the stop — not from a fixed lot — keeps every loss the same fraction of the account, which is what makes a drawdown limit survivable. It's also why prop challenges fail on sizing more often than on strategy: see the prop firm pass-rate calculator.
Position size questions
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How do you calculate position size in forex?
Position size = amount at risk ÷ (stop-loss in pips × pip value per lot). Risking 1% of a $10,000 account is $100; with a 25-pip stop on EUR/USD, where one pip on a standard lot is $10, that's $100 ÷ (25 × $10) = 0.40 lots, or 40,000 units.
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What is the pip value of a standard lot?
A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. For pairs quoted in USD, such as EUR/USD, one pip (0.0001) is worth $10. For USD/JPY a pip is 0.01, worth 1,000 yen, which is about $6.67 at 150.00. For other pairs, convert the pip value from the quote currency into your account currency.
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How do I calculate lot size for gold (XAU/USD)?
One standard lot of gold is usually 100 troy ounces, so each $1 move in the gold price is worth $100 per lot. Lots = amount at risk ÷ (stop distance in dollars × 100). Risking $200 with a $5 stop gives 200 ÷ 500 = 0.40 lots. Check your broker's contract size, because some use different specifications.
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How do I size a crypto position?
For crypto quoted in USD, units = amount at risk ÷ stop distance in dollars. Risking $100 on Bitcoin with a $1,500 stop means buying 0.0667 BTC. The position's value — units × price — can be much larger than the amount at risk, which is why leverage and margin still matter.
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What percentage should I risk per trade?
Many traders risk 0.5–2% of the account per trade. At 1%, ten losses in a row cost about 10%; at 5%, the same streak costs about 40%, which is very hard to recover from. The right number depends on your strategy's win rate and your drawdown limit — a prop challenge's daily loss rule often caps it lower.
Size it, then trade it on real market replay.
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