Position sizing: how big should a trade be
Most blown accounts are not caused by bad entries but by positions that were too big. Sizing from risk per trade takes one line of math.
The formula
Position size = (account × risk %) ÷ stop distance.
Account 5,000, risk 1% → you are ready to lose 50 on this trade. Entry 2,000, stop 1,960 → stop distance 40 per coin. Size = 50 / 40 = 1.25 coins, position value 2,500.
Leverage is a result, not an input
In the example the position is 2,500 on a 5,000 account, so 1× would be enough. If you keep only 500 on the exchange, the same position needs 5× — but the risk is still 50. Leverage only decides how much margin is locked; the risk is decided by size and stop.
Add fees to the stop
With 0.05% taker on both sides, a 2,500 position pays about 2.5 in fees. If you want the total loss to be 50, the price risk should be about 47.5 — slightly smaller size. On short stops fees are a big share of the risk, so ignoring them makes every loss bigger than planned.
See these numbers for your own trades
Connect an exchange and your trades load automatically — PnL, fees and funding per trade. The demo works without signing up.
How much to risk
- 0.5–1% per trade is a common range for active traders.
- Several positions on correlated coins are effectively one bigger risk.
- After a series of losses, reduce risk instead of increasing it to win back.
Check it in your journal
Compare your planned risk with real losses. If the average loss is far bigger than your rule, stops are being moved or skipped. CheckMyProfit shows average and largest losses, and the worst trades of a period, so the gap between plan and reality is visible.