Micros exist for this
MES, MNQ, MYM, M2K, MCL and MGC are one tenth of their full-size contract. They are the difference between a 50K account being able to trade a setup and not.
Same product, tenth the sizeFree tool
How many contracts should you actually trade?
Position size is the one input that decides whether a losing streak is survivable. Put in your account, the percentage you are willing to risk and where your stop goes, and this gives you the contract count that keeps the trade inside it.
Position size calculator
Stop distance is in ticks, not points — a tick is the smallest price increment the contract moves in, and it is what the dollar value is quoted against. The tool shows the tick size for whichever contract you pick.
The contract count is always rounded down. Rounding up is how a calculator quietly puts you over the risk you just typed in, and "actual risk at this size" is there so you can see the difference between what you allowed and what the whole contracts actually cost you.
Contracts to trade —
Risk budget —
Risk per contract —
Actual risk at this size —
The arithmetic, so you can check it
There is no proprietary anything here. Three lines:
risk budget = account size × risk %
risk per contract = stop in ticks × $ per tick
contracts = floor(risk budget ÷ risk per contract)The only number you might not know is dollars per tick, and that is set by the exchange rather than by your broker. The tick value calculator lists it for every major contract.
Why one contract is sometimes too many
If the tool says zero, that is the answer rather than an error. It means a single contract of that product, with that stop, risks more than the percentage you allowed.
That happens constantly on small and evaluation accounts, and the usual reaction — take the trade anyway — is what breaches them. The three honest responses are a smaller product (the micro version of the same contract is typically a tenth of the size), a tighter stop if the setup genuinely supports one, or not taking the trade.
A 50K account risking 1% has $500 to spend. On ES at $12.50 a tick, a 40-tick stop is $500 per contract — exactly one contract, with nothing spare. The same trade on MES is $50 per contract, which is ten contracts and a great deal more room to be wrong about the entry.
Risk percentage is per trade
1% per trade is not 1% per day. Four trades at 1% is a 4% day if they all lose, which is the number a prop firm's daily limit is measured against.
Count your trades, not just your sizeThe stop has to be real
Sizing off a stop you will not honour produces a number that describes a trade you are not going to take. The calculator is only as good as the stop you feed it.
Sized risk assumes an honoured stopSizing across several accounts
If you run more than one account — a personal one, a funded one, an evaluation — each has a different balance, so each has a different correct contract count for the same trade. Working that out three times per trade, live, is where mistakes come from.
That is the problem Copy Trader exists for: you trade one account and the others reproduce it at their own size, with each account's own multiplier applied before its order goes out. The sizing you would have done in your head happens server-side, per account, before the order leaves.
Use this calculator to decide the leader's size. The multipliers then handle the rest.
Common questions
How do I calculate futures position size?
Multiply your account size by the percentage you are willing to risk to get a risk budget. Multiply your stop distance in ticks by the dollar value of one tick to get the risk of a single contract. Divide the first by the second and round down. Rounding up puts you over the risk you set.
What percentage should I risk per trade?
There is no correct number, but 1% or less per trade is a common starting point, and the important part is that it is per trade rather than per day. Four losing trades at 1% is a 4% day, which is the figure a prop firm's daily loss limit measures.
Why does the calculator say zero contracts?
Because one contract of that product, with that stop, would risk more than the percentage you allowed. It is a real answer rather than an error. Use the micro version of the contract, tighten the stop if the setup supports it, or skip the trade.
What is the difference between a tick and a point?
A point is one full unit of price; a tick is the smallest increment the contract actually moves in. ES moves in 0.25-point ticks, so there are four ticks to a point. Dollar values are quoted per tick, which is why stop distances here are in ticks.
Does this work for micro contracts?
Yes — MES, MNQ, MYM, M2K, MCL and MGC are all in the contract list with their own tick values. They are typically one tenth of the full-size contract, which is often what makes a trade fit inside a small account's risk.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored or logged, and the page makes no network request while you use it.
More on free tools
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Start on a simulated account.
Connect a sim or evaluation account and run the whole product against it before you point anything at live money. Nothing about the setup changes when you do.