Tool / Position size
Position size calculator — the 1–2% rule
One number decides whether you risk 1% or 10% of the account: size comes from equity, risk % and distance to invalidation. Without it, a setup is a guess.
Run the numbers on your own figures
The same formula the procedure below describes. The result is the position size at which the stop costs exactly the share of capital you assumed.
- Risk per trade
- 100 USD
- Position size
- 200
- Substitution
- 10,000 × 1% = 100 USD; 100 ÷ 0.5 = 200
Step-by-step procedure
01
Account equity
e.g. $10,000
Equity — not “free funds you plan to use later”.
02
Risk % (1–2%)
Equity × risk% = 10,000 × 1% = $100
03
Distance to the stop in units
e.g. 50 pips / $0.50 per share
04
Size
Risk in dollars ÷ distance to the stop (in dollars per unit)
Worked example
A $10,000 account, 1% risk = $100. Stop $0.50 per share → size = 100 ÷ 0.50 = 200 shares. If that does not fit the margin deposit, cut the size — never the risk.
What this tool does not do
- KursTradera.pl is an educational site of an informational nature. We do not conduct brokerage activity, we do not accept or transmit orders, we do not manage portfolios, we do not offer financial instruments and we do not provide investment advice services within the meaning of the Polish Act on Trading in Financial Instruments (ustawa o obrocie instrumentami finansowymi). The materials describe market mechanisms and the decision-making process — they are not instructions to buy or sell any instrument.
- None of the published content constitutes an investment recommendation, investment research or a recommendation within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (MAR) and its implementing acts. Nor is it an offer to acquire or dispose of financial instruments or an invitation to submit offers. All examples, charts, screenshots and figures are illustrative and refer to hypothetical or historical situations.
- Investing and trading involve the risk of losing part or all of the capital invested. Results achieved in the past — including results presented in educational materials, backtests and examples — do not guarantee future results and are not a reliable indicator of them. No method or strategy described eliminates risk. You make investment decisions yourself, on your own responsibility and after reading the current documents of your broker.
- Leveraged instruments (CFDs, futures, options, margin transactions) can generate losses exceeding the value of the funds paid in — you can lose more than you invested and be called to top up your margin (a margin call). In the European Union, leverage for retail clients trading CFDs on major currency pairs is restricted by a decision of ESMA (product intervention on CFDs and binary options), but restricting leverage does not remove the risk. The percentage of retail accounts making a loss differs between brokers and changes over time — read the current figure from the risk warning at your broker and record it together with the date.