Free tool
Lot Size and Risk Calculator
What lot size to open so that, if the signal’s stop gets hit, you lose exactly what you decided. No account needed: everything runs in your browser.
How you trade
Lot size to risk 1% ($10.00) with a stop of 100 pips:
0.01 lots
If the stop gets hit you lose $10.00: 1% of the account.
Exact lot: 0.01 · one pip is worth $10.00 per lot
How it’s calculated
First, how much you’re willing to lose if the trade goes wrong: your balance times your risk percentage ($1,000 at 1% is $10). Then, what each pip of the distance to the stop is worth on one standard lot. The lot size is the risk divided by the stop’s pips times what each one is worth, rounded down to 0.01, the minimum at almost every broker: rounding up would have you risking more than you decided.
Risk is measured in R: risking the same amount on every trade is what makes a channel’s results comparable, and it’s how we measure channels in our audits. More on risk management and stop losses.
A worked example
A gold signal: buy at 2,650, stop at 2,642. A $2,000 account, and you want to risk 1%.
- What you’re risking: $2,000 × 1% = $20.
- The distance to the stop: 2,650 − 2,642 = $8 of price = 80 pips (a gold pip is 0.10).
- What a pip is worth on one standard lot of gold (100 ounces): $10.
- The lot size: 20 ÷ (80 × 10) = 0.025, which rounded down is 0.02 lots. If the stop gets hit, you lose $16.
How wide channels really set their stops
The distance to the stop drives the lot size as much as your balance does. Here’s what the signals from the Telegram channels we measure against real prices actually use, and the lot size that comes out of a $1,000 account risking 1%. On gold, with 100-pip stops, a $1,000 account is already at the minimum lot: any smaller and 1% can’t be done.
| Asset | Signals | Typical stop | Middle half | Lot ($1,000 at 1%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 15,006 | 100 pips | 75-129 | 0.01 |
| EUR/USD | 390 | 17 pips | 10-34 | 0.05 |
| Bitcoin | 287 | 600 points | 400-887.5 | 0.01 |
| USD/CAD | 93 | 25 pips | 12.6-35 | 0.05 |
| USD/JPY | 92 | 40.3 pips | 29-73 | 0.03 |
| AUD/USD | 90 | 20.4 pips | 14.1-34.9 | 0.04 |
| Dow Jones | 88 | 110 points | 63.8-130 | 0.09 |
| GBP/USD | 88 | 29.5 pips | 15.7-47.3 | 0.03 |
Distance between entry and stop on the signals posted in the Telegram channels we measure, through October 7, 2026. “Typical stop” is the median.
The gold pip: 0.10, not 0.01
The most common question about gold. Here, one XAUUSD pip is a $0.10 move in price: from 2,650.00 to 2,650.10. That’s how the signal channels we measure count it (“+30 pips” is $3 of movement) and how we measure it too. Some brokers call 0.01 a pip; counted that way the numbers come out ten times bigger, but the lot size for the same risk is the same, because what counts is the dollar distance to the stop. More on what a pip is and the pip value calculator.
FAQ
What lot size should I use with $100 on gold?
With a typical gold signal stop (100 pips, $10 of price), risking 1% of $100 ($1) would call for a 0.001 lot, below the minimum at almost every broker (0.01). With 0.01 lots and that stop you’re risking $10, 10% of the account on a single trade. With accounts that small, your real risk is set by the minimum lot, not by your percentage.
What percentage of my account should I risk per trade?
Most traders risk between 0.5% and 2%. The math that matters is the losing streak: at 1% per trade, ten stops in a row take about 10% of the account; at 5%, close to 40%. Signal channels string together streaks like that often, so you want a bad run not to knock you out of the game.
Why does my broker show a different number of pips on gold?
Some brokers call $0.01 a pip on gold, while others (and signal channels) use $0.10. Counted the first way, pips come out ten times bigger and each one is worth ten times less. The lot size for the same risk doesn’t change: what counts is the dollar distance to the stop.
What if the pair isn’t quoted in dollars, like USD/JPY?
Then the pip value comes out in the other currency (yen, pounds, francs…) and has to be converted to dollars at today’s rate. That’s why the calculator asks for that price on those pairs: with USD/JPY at 150, a pip is worth about $6.67 per lot instead of $10.
What if the signal doesn’t include a stop?
Then there’s no way to know how much you’re risking, and no calculator can give you a lot size. A signal with no stop leaves the loss open-ended: it’s one of the first things we look at when we audit a channel.
Limits
The math runs in dollars. The contract size for indices and crypto (1 per lot) is our reference broker’s; yours may use a different size, so check the contract specifications before you trade. This isn’t investment advice: it’s arithmetic, so your position size isn’t a guess.
Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown.