Size the trade before you take it
The Position Size calculator turns a risk budget into a real order size. You pick the instrument, set your account size and risk, drop in your entry and stop, and it works out how many lots, contracts, or shares that is. Your dollar risk, reward, and risk-to-reward come with it, so you see the trade fully before you place it.
Set your account and risk
Two fields at the top frame the trade.
Account size (USD) is the balance you are risking against. If TradeDNA knows your live balance it fills this in for you, and you can type over it.
Risk per trade (%) is the slice of that balance you are willing to lose on this one trade. One percent is a common starting point.
Pick the instrument and direction
Instrument opens a searcher. Type a symbol or a name, then pick it. The calculator reads that instrument's contract specs so the size comes out in the right units.
Direction is Long or Short. It tells the calculator which side of your entry the stop belongs on.
Enter your entry, stop, and target
Entry price is where you plan to get in. Use live price pulls the last price for that symbol so you do not have to type it. If a live price is not available, you enter it by hand.
The stop has two ways in. Stop price takes the exact price your stop sits at. Stop distance takes a Distance number and a Unit (pips, ticks, or points, depending on the instrument) and places the stop that far from your entry on the losing side.
Target (optional) is where you plan to take profit. Add it to see your reward and risk-to-reward. Leave it blank if you only want the size.
For forex, crypto, and similar leveraged instruments a Leverage (optional) field appears. Fill it in to see the margin the position ties up, and to have the size held back if leverage would cap it below what your risk allows.
Read the result
The big number on the right is your position size, with its unit underneath: lots for forex, contracts for futures, shares for stocks. Under it, a colored bar lays out the trade with SL on the loss side and TP on the win side, scaled to the real distances.
The tiles below break the trade down:
Dollar risk is what you lose if the stop hits, with the percent of your account it works out to.
Reward is what you make if the target hits, with the trade's R value.
Pips to stop or Ticks to stop is how far the stop sits from your entry.
Notional is the full value of the position.
Margin required shows when you set leverage.
Risk budget is the dollar amount your account size and risk percent gave the trade to spend.
When a field needs another look
The calculator tells you when something is off instead of guessing.
If the stop is on the wrong side of your entry, you will see a note that the stop must sit on the losing side.
If the account size or risk is empty, it asks you to set them before it sizes the trade.
On a cross pair, it may note that it needs a live exchange rate for the dollar figures. The risk-to-reward is still exact, so try again shortly for the dollar amounts.
A free version anyone can use
A free public version of this calculator lives at tradedna.ai/tools/forex-position-size-calculator. It needs no account and no signup, so you can share the link with trading friends who do not use TradeDNA. The version inside the product stays the faster one for your own trades, since it can fill in your live account balance for you.
Good to know
Pick an instrument first. Until you do, the result side simply prompts you to choose one.
If TradeDNA does not have contract specs for a symbol yet, it says so and you can size a different instrument.
The numbers here are educational, not financial advice. Always size positions you can afford to lose.