Position size calculator

Q: What does R mean in the targets?

One R is the dollars risked on the trade. A 2R target is the price at which the trade pays twice what it risks. Thinking in R keeps wins and losses comparable across trades.

Q: Does this work for leveraged positions?

Yes. The size is the size however it is funded; leverage changes the margin posted, not the loss at the stop. Check the resulting liquidation price sits well beyond the stop.

Q: Should risk be a percent of account or a fixed dollar amount?

Percent. Fixed-dollar risk grows relative to a shrinking account and accelerates drawdowns; fixed fractional sizing shrinks positions automatically as the account shrinks.

Q: Why is my position size bigger than my account?

A tight stop implies size: risking 1% with a 0.5% stop distance implies a position twice the account, or 2x leverage. Slippage makes very tight leveraged stops riskier than the plan.

Account size, risk per trade, entry and stop go in; the position size that keeps the loss survivable comes out. The one piece of trading math that matters more than any signal.

Your tradeEdits recompute instantly

Market

Direction

Account size

USD

The total in your trading account, including what is not in a trade right now.

Risk per trade how much you lose if it goes wrong

If the price hits your stop, you lose -- of your -- account.

Entry price

USD

Stop price

USD

Stop

Entry is the live price; type over it. The stop is the price where you would give up on the trade and get out.

Fixed fractional risk: every trade risks the same slice of the account, so no single stop-out matters much.

Position sizeNotional at entry, fees ignored

Open a position of

Fill in account, risk, entry and stop

--Stop-- --Entrybreak even --2R-- --3R--

Loss if the price hits your stop--

Size in coin--

Distance to the stop--

Implied leverage on the account--

Ten stop-outs in a row would cost--

Sizing from the stop hands the decision to the market: a tight stop buys more size, a wide one less, and the loss is the same either way. If the size implies leverage, check where that puts your liquidation price, because the stop only protects you if it fires before the exchange does.

size = (account × risk %) ÷ the distance from entry to stop

About this data

Updated Sep 2026

Figures are shown as the source publishes them, and anything we calculate is explained below. How the data is made Report an error General information, not financial advice.

The formula

Dollars at risk = account × risk %
Size in coin = dollars at risk ÷ |entry − stop|
Position notional = size × entry price

That is the whole method, and its power is what it removes: conviction. The size is set by where the trade is wrong (the stop) and what you can afford to be wrong (the risk fraction), not by how sure you feel.

Why 1–2% per trade

Losing streaks are a statistical certainty, not a sign of failure. At 1% risk, ten straight losers cost about 9.6% of the account: annoying, recoverable. At 10% risk the same streak costs 65%, which needs a 187% run just to get back to even. The risk fraction is what decides whether variance is an inconvenience or an ending.

Where the stop goes

The stop belongs where the trade idea is invalidated, behind the level that made you enter, not at a round number of dollars you are comfortable losing. Two cautions from our own data: crypto stops sit in crowds, and crowds get run. Check the liquidation heatmap before parking a stop inside a dense cluster, because that is exactly where slippage is worst when it fires.

What it ignores

Fees and funding: Both eat into the risk budget; on perps held for weeks, funding can cost more than the stop.
Slippage: A stop is an order to sell at market once touched. In a cascade it fills worse than the stop price, so real risk is slightly larger than the number here.
Gaps: Crypto trades around the clock, which removes overnight gaps but not air pockets. A stop inside one fills at the far side of it.

Not investment advice

This tool sizes a loss, not an opportunity. It cannot tell you whether to take the trade, and no sizing method makes a bad idea good. It only makes it cheap.

Questions

What does "R" mean in the targets?

One R is the dollars you risk on the trade. A 2R target is the price at which the trade pays twice what it risks. Thinking in R keeps wins and losses comparable across trades of different sizes, which is the point of sizing them off the same fraction.

Does this work for leveraged positions?

Yes. The size is the size, however you fund it. Leverage only changes how much margin you post, not how much you lose at the stop. The implied-leverage row shows the leverage needed if you post your whole account; check the resulting liquidation price sits well beyond your stop, or the exchange closes the trade before your stop does.

Should risk be a percent of account or a fixed dollar amount?

Percent, if you want the math to protect you. Fixed-dollar risk grows relative to a shrinking account, which accelerates drawdowns exactly when you can least afford it. Fixed fractional sizing shrinks positions automatically as the account shrinks.

Why is my position size bigger than my account?

A tight stop does that: risking 1% with a 0.5% stop distance implies a position twice the account, i.e. 2x leverage. Nothing is wrong with the math, but the implied-leverage row turns red past 10x because tight stops fail to fills, not to logic: slippage on a leveraged stop-out costs multiples of the plan.