Free tool, no sign-up
Position size calculator
Type your account, your risk and your stop. You get the number of shares that keeps a losing trade to the amount you planned.
Buy
50
shares
- Loss if stopped out
- $100.00
- Distance to stop
- 2.00
- Position value
- $7,125
- Reward to risk
- 2.0 to 1
Education tool. Not financial advice. The numbers it opens with are an example. Real fills can be worse than your stop when price gaps.
The formula
How the math works
Two lines of arithmetic, shown here with the numbers you typed above. Change the calculator and these change too.
- 1
Risk in dollars
account × risk %
$10,000 × 1%=$100.00
- 2
Distance to stop
entry − stop
142.50 − 140.50=2.00
- 3
Shares
risk $ ÷ distance, rounded down
$100.00 ÷ 2.00=50
Check: 50 shares × 2.00 = $100.00, at or under your $100.00 limit. Rounding down is what keeps it there.
Losing streaks
Pick your risk per trade
Every trader hits a run of losses. Here is your $10,000 account after losing trades in a row at three risk levels, and the gain each smaller balance would need just to get back to the start.
Risking 1% per trade
$10,000
No losses yet. The full account is still there.
Risking 2% per trade
$10,000
No losses yet. The full account is still there.
Risking 10% per trade
$10,000
No losses yet. The full account is still there.
You picked 1% in the calculator. After 0 losses in a row that leaves $10,000.
Watch for these
Common mistakes
- 01
A stop that is too tight
A stop a few cents from the entry gets hit by normal price wiggle, and the calculator hands you a huge share count to match. Put the stop where your trade idea is proven wrong, then let the size shrink to fit.
- 02
Sizing by feel
Buying a round 100 shares because it feels right means your risk changes every trade. Start from the dollars you are willing to lose and let the math pick the shares.
- 03
Moving the stop
Pushing the stop further away as price gets close turns a planned $100 loss into a bigger one you never agreed to. Set the stop before you enter and leave it there.
Many traders start at 1% or less per trade. At 1%, ten losses in a row still leave about 90% of the account. Practise on a demo account first, and only trade money you can afford to lose.
Make your next trade a planned one.
Start with the risk modules, then work through the setups at your own pace. Plans start at $39.
Trading involves risk of loss. This is education, not financial advice.