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A Position Sizing Table You Can Build in Ten Minutes

Calculating lot size for every trade can feel slow, and rushing leads to mistakes. A simple table prepared in advance helps you size quickly and consistently.

Here's how to build one in a spreadsheet.

Step 1: Choose your instrument. Start with your main pair.

Step 2: List your account balance or risk amount. For example, risk $20 per trade.

Step 3: List stop distances. For example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 pips.

Step 4: Calculate lot sizes. Use the formula: lot size = risk amount / (stop in pips x pip value per lot).

For a pair where one pip on a standard lot is about $10:

- 10 pips: $20 / (10 x 10) = 0.20 lots
- 20 pips: $20 / (20 x 10) = 0.10 lots
- 40 pips: $20 / (40 x 10) = 0.05 lots

Step 5: Save and print it. Keep it next to your screen.

Step 6: Update it when your account balance changes significantly or when you trade another instrument.

Benefits:

- Faster decisions in live markets
- Fewer calculation errors
- Consistent risk

Reminder: verify pip values for your broker and account currency, since they can differ.

A good tool removes friction from good behavior. Spend ten minutes now, and save yourself mistakes for months.

Worked example of how I lay out the table. Rows are stop sizes in pips, 10, 15, 20, 25 and so on. Columns are pairs. Each cell is the lot size for 1% risk on my account. Once a month I update it for the account balance. Before every trade I just read across, no calculator in the moment.

A small mistake to avoid: don't build the table on rounded pip values. On some crosses, the pip value moves with the exchange rate. A rough number is fine for EURUSD-type pairs, but update the cross pairs regularly or your 1% is quietly becoming 1.2%. On a dollar account, pairs quoted in dollars like EURUSD and GBPUSD have a fixed 10 dollars per standard lot pip. Pairs like USDJPY, USDCAD, EURGBP and GBPJPY all depend on a rate that moves. A spreadsheet that pulls live rates fixes that, for example with GOOGLEFINANCE in Google Sheets, so the table updates itself instead of relying on you remembering.