Position size calculator

یہ قانونی صفحہ صرف انگریزی میں دستیاب ہے۔

Position sizing is the decision that determines whether a losing streak is an inconvenience or the end of the account. This calculator does the standard conversion: you choose how much of the account one trade may lose, measure the stop distance, and it returns the lot size that matches.

The order matters. Size is derived from risk — never the other way around. If you pick a lot size first and hope, the market chooses your risk for you.

Account balance$Risk per trade%Stop-loss distancepointsValue of one point, per 1.0 lot$

Money at risk: $100.00
Position size: 0.20 lots

Example: on gold (XAUUSD), one point of $0.01 is typically worth $1 per standard lot, so a $5.00 stop is 500 points. Check your broker's contract specification — point value varies by instrument.

How it works

Money at risk = balance × risk % .

Lot size = money at risk ÷ (stop distance in points × value of one point per lot).

The point value depends on the instrument: for gold it is commonly $1 per point ($0.01) per standard lot; for most USD-quoted forex pairs, about $1 per point ($0.0001) per standard lot ($10 per pip). Always confirm in your platform's contract specification.

Common questions

What percentage should I risk per trade?

There is no universal number, but the arithmetic is universal: at 1% risk, ten consecutive losses draw the account down about 9.6%; at 5%, the same streak costs about 40%. Small percentages exist to make losing streaks survivable, and every strategy has losing streaks.

Does this work for gold and indices, or only forex pairs?

It works for any instrument once you know the value of one point per lot. Contract sizes differ — gold is typically 100 oz per lot, indices vary by broker — so check the contract specification and enter the correct point value.

Why does my platform show a different pip value?

Pip value depends on the quote currency of the pair and your account currency. When they differ, the value floats with the exchange rate. This calculator assumes you enter the current per-point value; platforms compute it live.

The thinking behind this tool is covered in Lesson 03: کسی بھی چیز سے پہلے رسک مینجمنٹ.

Related terms

Position sizing — Deciding how much to risk on each trade — the discipline that determines whether losing streaks are survivable.
Risk per trade — The fraction of account equity a single trade can lose if its stop loss is hit.
Stop loss — An order that closes a position automatically at a predefined worse price, capping the loss on a trade.
Lot size — The unit that measures position size in forex and metals — one standard lot is 100,000 units of the base asset.