How to use this calculator
- Select the pair and account currency, then enter balance and your own risk budget.
- Enter the planned stop distance in pips. Verify the pip convention and contract size with your broker.
- When the quote currency differs from the account currency, enter how many account-currency units equal one quote-currency unit. This rate is not fetched or verified.
- Enter the broker lot increment. Check minimum/maximum size, margin, costs, and execution conditions separately before using any result.
Formula and worked example
Risk budget = balance × risk % ÷ 100 (or your fixed amount). Units = budget ÷ (stop pips × pip size × quote-to-account conversion). Standard lots = units ÷ 100,000, rounded down to the lot increment.
For an illustrative USD 10,000 account, a 1% budget is USD 100. On EUR/USD with a 20-pip stop, one base unit risks 20 × 0.0001 = USD 0.002 before costs. USD 100 ÷ 0.002 gives 50,000 EUR units, or 0.50 standard lots. A 0.01-lot increment leaves this size unchanged.
What the result does—and does not—tell you
This models a conventional forex contract of 100,000 base-currency units per standard lot. It does not cover gold, indices, futures, or broker-specific CFD contracts. Rounding down avoids increasing the modeled stop loss above the selected budget, but commissions, spread, slippage, and gaps can still increase actual losses. A result below one increment is shown as zero. Choosing a risk percentage remains your decision.
Frequently asked questions
Why must I enter a conversion rate?
The pip movement is valued in the pair’s quote currency. If your account uses another currency, that value must be converted. The tool uses your manual rate and does not fetch live quotes. Changing the pair or account currency clears that rate.
Is position size the same as required margin?
No. This tool sizes a position from the modeled loss at a stop. Required margin depends on leverage and broker rules and is not calculated here.
Does this work for every broker?
No. Verify standard-lot contract size, lot increment, minimum size, and maximum size. Instruments with different specifications need a different calculation.
Methodology and limitations
WTE Toolbox · Calculation model v1 · Updated September 6, 2026. These are deterministic calculations from manually supplied inputs. Examples are hypothetical, not recommended trades or risk limits. No market feed, account connection, or broker validation is used. Display values are rounded; calculations use unrounded intermediate values.
Educational use only, not personalized financial advice. Trading can result in substantial losses. A calculated stop loss is not a guaranteed execution price or maximum loss.
Further reading: CME Group on position size, stop distance, and risk budget. The manual forex conversion and lot-step assumptions above are specific to this WTE calculator.