Position size calculator
Tell it your account, the percent you are willing to risk and where your stop sits. It returns the exact size to trade so that being wrong costs you what you decided in advance — not whatever the market feels like taking.
Position Size & Risk Calculator
The formula it runs
Position size = (account × risk %) ÷ distance from entry to stop
That is the whole thing. The account and the risk percent give you a budget in currency; the distance to your stop tells you what one unit costs you if you are wrong; dividing one by the other gives the size.
A worked example
A $5,000 account risking 1% has a $50 budget for the trade. You enter at $20.00 and your stop sits at $19.00, so each share carries $1.00 of risk. $50 ÷ $1.00 = 50 shares. If the stop is hit you lose $50 — not $500, and not a number you discover afterwards.
Move the stop to $19.50 and the risk per share halves, so the same $50 budget now buys 100 shares. This is the part that surprises people: a tighter stop means a bigger position, not a smaller one, because the budget is fixed and the per-unit cost fell.
Forex, in pips and lots
Switch the calculator to pip mode. Risk per lot = stop distance in pips × pip value, and lots = budget ÷ risk per lot. A standard lot is 100,000 units, which the calculator shows underneath so you can check it against your broker before you send the order.
Questions people ask
What percentage should I risk per trade?
Professional risk management usually means a fixed 1–2% of the account per trade, and beginners are better off at 1%. A percentage shrinks your risk automatically while you are losing and grows it as you win, which is a safety system that needs no willpower.
Why does a tighter stop give a bigger position?
Because the money at risk is fixed first. A tighter stop costs less per unit, so the same risk budget buys more units. The amount you can lose does not change — only the size does.
Does this work for crypto?
Yes. Use price mode and enter your entry and stop in the same currency. Fractional sizes are normal in crypto, so the result is shown to two decimals.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored or shared.
Keep the numbers after you close the tab
These calculators do the arithmetic once. The Trader's Edge journal is the same maths as a 64-page workbook plus a spreadsheet that sizes every position for you, and the strategy write-ups explain the reasoning behind all of it.