Most retail traders obsess over entries — the perfect candlestick, the exact level. But two traders can take the identical trade and one survives while the other blows up. The difference is size.

Position sizing is the one variable you fully control. The market decides whether a trade wins; you decide how much it costs you when it loses. Fix your risk at a small, constant fraction of your account and a losing streak becomes survivable instead of fatal.

The formula this calculator uses is the one professional desks use:

It works backwards from the only number that matters — how much you're willing to lose — to the exact position size. Your stop-loss distance and the pair's pip value do the rest.

For ZAR accounts on USD/ZAR: pip value is fixed at R10.00 per standard lot, making the calculation straightforward. See the full ZAR pip value table →