Position Sizing

    Position size decides how much a losing trade costs you. Get it right and a bad week is just a bad week. Pro Signals V5 can do the math for you on every signal.

    Turn on sizing

    1. 1
      Open the indicator settings
      Double-click Pro Signals V5 on your chart, or click the gear next to its name.
    2. 2
      Go to Risk Tools
      Enter your balance in Account. Leave it at 0 to hide sizing.
    3. 3
      Set Risk %
      The default is 1%. This is the share of your account one losing trade may cost.
    4. 4
      Read the size on each signal
      Units adapt to the market: shares for stocks, lots for forex, contracts for futures.

    The formula

    Every sizing method comes down to the same idea:

    size = (account × risk %) ÷ (distance from entry to stop, per unit)

    Try it

    A quick calculator for stocks. Change the numbers to see how size reacts to a wider or tighter stop.

    Amount at risk
    100.00
    Risk per share
    3.0000
    Position size
    33 shares

    Worked examples

    MarketExample
    StocksAccount 10,000, risk 1% = 100 at risk. Entry 50.00, stop 48.00, so 2.00 per share. Size: 50 shares.
    ForexAccount 10,000, risk 1% = 100. Stop 40 pips away. On a pair where one standard lot is about 10 per pip, 100 ÷ (40 × 10) = 0.25 lots.
    FuturesAccount 25,000, risk 1% = 250. Stop 10 points away on a contract worth 5 per point = 50 per contract. Size: 5 contracts.

    How much should you risk?

    1 to 2 percent per trade is the usual range. Several losses in a row happen to every trader. At 1% risk, five losses in a row cost about 5% of the account. At 5% risk, the same streak costs about 23%.

    Losses in a rowAccount left at 1% risk
    3About 97.0%
    5About 95.1%
    10About 90.4%
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