Risk & Money Management
Position Size Calculator
Calculate how many shares, units or contracts to trade from your account balance, risk percentage, entry and stop loss. Free and instant.
Position size
50 units
- Risk amount
- $100.00
- Risk per unit
- $2.00
- Position value
- $2,500.00
- % of account
- 25%
How this is calculated
Position size keeps the money you risk constant across trades. First we find the cash at risk, then divide by the per-unit risk:
riskAmount = balance × risk%units = riskAmount ÷ |entry − stop|positionValue = units × entry
For a long, per-unit risk is entry − stop; for a short it is stop − entry. The “% of account” figure shows how much buying power the resulting position uses.
Frequently asked questions
- How is position size calculated?
- Risk amount = balance × risk %. Units = risk amount ÷ per-unit risk, where per-unit risk is the distance from entry to stop. Position value = units × entry price.
- What risk percentage should I use?
- Many traders risk 0.5%–2% of account equity per trade. Smaller risk per trade means a longer losing streak is survivable. This tool defaults to 1%.
- Does it work for short trades?
- Yes. For shorts the per-unit risk is the distance from your stop (above entry) down to the entry price.