Stocks & indices
The position size is the number of shares or contracts to trade. P&L is size times the price move, so the figure is ready to use as is. Ignore the lots line.
Most blown accounts are not caused by bad entries. They are caused by inconsistent sizing. Use the calculator to size every trade to a fixed risk, then track whether you actually did it.
A stop loss only protects you if the position behind it is the right size.
Position sizing is the process of choosing how big a trade should be so that, if your stop is hit, you lose a fixed, pre-decided amount of your account and nothing more.
You decide the risk first, usually a small fixed percentage of your balance. That sets a dollar amount you are willing to lose. The distance to your stop then determines how large the position can be while keeping the loss equal to that amount.
It is the single most important risk control in trading because it is the only one that works the same way on every trade, in every market condition, regardless of how the trade turns out.
Enter your balance, the risk you accept, your entry and your stop. Get the exact size that keeps the loss at your planned risk.
Works for any market - stocks, crypto and forex. Enter the entry and stop as prices in the same units. How to read the result is explained right below.
Position size = (Balance × Risk%) ÷ Stop Distance. Forex: divide units by 100,000 for standard lots (shown above). Ignore the lots figure if you do not trade forex.
The maths is identical everywhere. Only what the number represents changes with what you trade.
The position size is the number of shares or contracts to trade. P&L is size times the price move, so the figure is ready to use as is. Ignore the lots line.
The size is the number of coins or contracts - for example 0.05 BTC. Enter the entry and stop exactly as the prices appear on the exchange. Ignore the lots line.
The size is units of the base currency. The second result converts to standard lots (100,000 units = 1 lot). A 50-pip stop on a 4-decimal pair is a 0.0050 stop distance.
The maths of survival is brutal and most traders never run it. The deeper the hole, the harder it is to climb out.
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain to recover. A 20% loss needs 25%. Oversizing once can undo months of disciplined trading in a single afternoon.
Even a strong system has losing runs. Fixed fractional sizing means each loss is smaller than the last in dollar terms, so a streak cannot end the account.
When size is a formula and not a feeling, conviction stops inflating positions. The trades you feel best about are exactly the ones that need a fixed size.
Sizing on a calculator is easy. Sizing the same way on every trade - especially after a loss - is where it breaks.
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Multiply your account balance by the percentage you will risk to get a risk amount. Divide that risk amount by the distance between your entry and your stop loss. The result is the position size that keeps your loss equal to your planned risk if the stop is hit.
Most consistent traders risk a small fixed percentage, commonly between 0.5% and 2% of account equity. The exact number matters less than keeping it constant across every trade regardless of how confident you feel.
Your entry decides whether a single trade wins. Your position size decides whether a losing streak ends your account. Inconsistent sizing is one of the most common reasons a profitable strategy still loses money over time.
The calculator plans the trade. Tracker Fx shows what you actually did: it calculates the real risk taken on every closed trade from synced broker data, so you can see whether you sized consistently or quietly risked more on some trades than others.
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