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What Is Lot Size Calculation in Forex and How to Do It Right?
Learn what lot size calculation in forex means and how to do it right. Avoid common mistakes and improve your risk management.
Lot size calculator
What a lot size actually controls: how many units or ounces, what each pip is worth, and how much exposure and margin it carries.
Result
You control
10,000EUR
0.100 standard lots of EUR/USD.
- Value of one pip
- 1.00 USD
- Per standard lot
- 10.00 USD
- Exposure
- 11,179.05 USD
- Margin at 30:1
- 372.64 USD
- Price (reference rate)
- 1.1179
No exchange rate needed: the figures are already in USD.
A pip is 0.0001, or 0.01 when the yen is the quote currency.
Exchange rates: ECB reference rates, Nov 3. Reference rates are set once each business day, so results can differ slightly from a broker's live price. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How it is calculated
A lot is a fixed amount of the first instrument in the pair. On currencies a standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini lot 10,000, a micro lot 1,000 and a nano lot 100. On spot gold a standard lot is usually 100 troy ounces, and on silver 5,000. Brokers can differ, so the contract size can be changed.
units = lots × contract sizevalue of one pip = pip size × units, in the quote currencyexposure = units × price; margin = exposure ÷ leverage
Metals have no true pip. Gold is counted here in steps of 0.01 and silver in steps of 0.001, as most platforms do.
Worked example
- 0.1 lot of EUR/USD = 10,000 euros. Each pip is 0.0001 × 10,000 = 1 US dollar.
- At 1.1000 that is 11,000 dollars of exposure; at 30:1 the margin is 11,000 ÷ 30 = 366.67 dollars.
- 1 lot of gold = 100 oz. A 0.01 move is worth 1 dollar; at 2,000 dollars and 20:1 the margin is 200,000 ÷ 20 = 10,000 dollars.
Risk. These tools do arithmetic on the figures you enter. They are not advice, and unless a field asks for them they leave out spreads, commission, financing and slippage. Past results do not predict future ones. Trading leveraged currency products carries a high risk of loss. Read our financial disclaimer.