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Futures

Futures Position Size Calculator

Contracts are whole numbers, so the risk you take is never exactly the risk you planned. Enter the trade to see both figures.

Your risk

The trade

Contracts to trade—
Money at risk (target)—
Risk per contract—
Risk you actually take—
Unused risk budget—
Stop distance—

Contracts are whole numbers, so the risk actually taken is always at or below the target — never above it. Rounding up to reach the intended figure is the one adjustment that breaks the rule this calculation exists to enforce.

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The calculation

risk per contract = |entry − stop| × multiplier
contracts = floor( (equity × risk%) ÷ risk per contract )

A $25,000 account risking 1% has $250. An ES trade with a 10-point stop risks 10 × 50 = $500 per contract — so the answer is zero contracts, and that is a correct answer rather than a broken one.

Rounding down is the rule, and it costs something

Contracts are indivisible. The calculation returns 2.7 and you take 2, so the risk actually taken is below target rather than above it.

That direction is deliberate and non-negotiable: rounding up to reach the intended figure breaks the only rule the calculation exists to enforce. It feels like a rounding error and it is a risk-rule violation on every trade it happens.

What it costs is visible in the unused budget row. Two contracts of a $180 risk against a $500 allowance uses $360 and leaves $140 — 28% of the allowance doing nothing. On a large account with a wide stop this is negligible. On a small account with full-size contracts it is routinely a third or more, and that waste is the real argument for micros rather than any claim about them being safer.

When the answer is zero

It happens often on small accounts, and the honest responses are limited:

  • Trade the micro. A tenth of the multiplier turns $500 of risk per contract into $50, which fits. This is what micros are for and it changes nothing about the trade itself.
  • Take the trade at a wider risk percentage — a decision to be made deliberately, once, not silently per trade.
  • Skip it. A stop that is too wide for the account is information, not an obstacle.

The answer that is not available is tightening the stop until the size fits. That moves the exit to where the arithmetic is comfortable rather than where the idea is wrong, and it converts a sizing constraint into a losing strategy.

On a funded or evaluation account

The percentage rule is not the binding constraint here — the firm's daily loss limit is, and it is a hard boundary rather than a preference.

The useful version of this calculation on a prop account is contracts against remaining room today, not against account equity. Those are different numbers on any day that has already had a loss, and the second is the one that ends the account. The prop drawdown calculator works out the room; this page turns it into contracts.

FAQ

How many futures contracts should I trade?

Divide your money at risk by the risk per contract, and round down. Risk per contract is the stop distance in points multiplied by the contract multiplier — 10 points on ES at $50 is $500.

Why does the calculator return zero contracts?

Because one contract would risk more than your rule allows. That is a real answer: at this account size, with this stop, the full-size contract is not tradable. A micro at a tenth of the multiplier usually is.

Should I round contracts up or down?

Down, always. Rounding up puts the risk above your limit on every trade where it happens, and the amount is small enough each time that it never gets noticed.

Is risk per contract the same as margin?

No, and they are unrelated in size. Margin is the collateral needed to hold the position; risk per contract is what the stop costs if it is hit. On ES the margin can be $14,300 while the risk on a 10-point stop is $500.

How do micros change the answer?

They divide the multiplier by ten, so the same stop risks a tenth as much and the position can be sized in ten times finer steps. The exposure available is identical; what changes is the granularity, which is what small accounts actually lack.

This is the plan. What did you actually do?

A calculator tells you the size you should have taken. It cannot tell you the size you took at 2pm after two losers, or how often your stop moved once price went against you. Drop in a statement from MT4/MT5, a broker CSV or a crypto export and see the answer for your own last 90 trades.

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Related calculators

Micro vs Standard Futures CalculatorCompare how many micro and standard futures contracts a given risk budget allows, and how much of that budget each choice leaves unused.Futures Margin CalculatorWork out the margin a futures position requires, how much of the account it locks up, and how far price can move against you before a margin call.Futures Tick Value CalculatorTurn tick size and contract multiplier into the money a single tick is worth, for one contract or for the whole position, and convert a move into a result.Prop Firm Drawdown CalculatorWork out how much you can still lose before a daily loss limit or a max drawdown closes the account — static, trailing and end-of-day, with the conservative figure shown.