Position Sizing on MT4 and MT5: The Lot Table for a 10,000 Account

Most position sizing guides give you the formula and stop there, which is why so many traders still size by feel. This one gives you the formula, the finished table for a $10,000 account, the exact fields to fill in on MetaTrader 4 and 5, and the volatility numbers that tell you whether your stop is sane in the first place — measured on 16,926 EURUSD 5-minute bars from June 3 to August 26, 2026.

What is the position sizing formula?

Three inputs, one output:

• Account risk in dollars. A percentage of the balance. 1% of $10,000 is $100.
• Stop distance in pips. Chosen from the chart, before you think about size.
• Value of one pip per lot. On EURUSD, one standard lot is $10 per pip. Micro lot (0.01) is 10 cents.

Lots = risk in dollars ÷ (stop in pips × 10)

A $100 risk with a 20 pip stop: 100 ÷ (20 × 10) = 0.50 lots. That is the entire calculation. It works because the dollar loss at your stop is fixed by construction — if the stop is hit, you lose the number you decided on, regardless of where the stop sits.

The lot table for a $10,000 account

EURUSD, standard lots, $10 per pip. Find your stop distance down the side and your risk tolerance across the top.

The 15 pip row is bolded because that was the best performing stop distance in my testing — 44.6% win rate and profit factor 1.43 across 101 trades on an EMA crossover entry. For a $10,000 account at 1% risk that is 0.67 lots, which is $6.67 per pip.

For a $5,000 account, halve every number. For $25,000, multiply by 2.5. The table scales linearly because the formula does.

How do I know if my stop distance is reasonable?

Compare it to how far EURUSD actually travels. From the same dataset:

Two practical readings come out of this. A stop under 5 pips is inside the noise: two or three ordinary bars will take it out. And a target beyond about 50 pips is asking for more than a typical EURUSD day contains — in my testing a 75 pip target was never reached inside 24 hours across 80 trades. Choose the stop from the top block, choose the target from the bottom block, then let the table above tell you the lot size.

Where do I enter this on MetaTrader 4?

1. Open the order window: Tools → New Order, or press F9.
2. Confirm the symbol at the top is EURUSD and the type is Market Execution or Pending Order.
3. Fill Stop Loss first, as a price, not a distance. Long at 1.1650 with a 15 pip stop means typing 1.1635.
4. Fill Take Profit next: 1.1650 + 0.0030 = 1.1680 for a 2R target.
5. Only now set Volume — 0.67 for the example above. Doing it in this order stops you sizing before you know your risk.
6. Press Buy by Market or Sell by Market.

If the Stop Loss field refuses your number, your stop is inside the broker’s minimum distance from price — widen it rather than trading without one. And if the indicator you are sizing around is not on the chart yet, my guide on installing an MT4 indicator covers that part.

Where do I enter this on MetaTrader 5?

Same three fields, slightly different window. Press F9 or click New Order in the toolbar.

• MT5 offers a Points mode next to Stop Loss and Take Profit. Switch it on and you can type 150 points instead of calculating the price — on a 5-digit EURUSD quote, 10 points = 1 pip. A 15 pip stop is 150 points.
• MT5 shows the margin requirement under the volume box before you send. If the number startles you, your size is too big for the account, not the other way round.
• MT5 supports partial closes natively, so scaling out at 1R and running the rest is available without a script.
• Indicators live in a different folder structure here — see how to add indicators to MT5 if you are moving a setup across.

What are the mistakes that break this?

• Sizing first, stop second. Choosing 1.00 lots and then hunting for a stop that “feels affordable” is how a 15 pip plan becomes a 5 pip stop that gets hit by noise.
• Counting points as pips. On a 5-digit broker, 15 in the points box is 1.5 pips. This single mix-up is the most common cause of a stop ten times tighter than intended.
• Sizing off equity instead of balance mid-drawdown. Pick one and stay with it, or your risk quietly grows as floating losses move.
• Assuming $10 per pip on every pair. It holds for EURUSD and other USD-quoted pairs. On USDJPY or gold the pip value differs and the table must be rebuilt.
• Risking 2% because the setup looks certain. Confidence is not information. My ADX filter test is a long demonstration of how ordinary the “strong” setups turn out to be.

Frequently asked questions

How many lots should I trade with a $10,000 account?

Whatever makes your stop cost 1% of the account. With a 15 pip stop that is 0.67 lots; with a 30 pip stop, 0.33; with a 50 pip stop, 0.20. There is no single correct lot size — it moves inversely with the stop distance.

Is 1% risk per trade the right number?

It is the standard because it survives a long losing run: ten consecutive losses at 1% costs about 9.6% of the account, while the same run at 5% costs 40%. Half a percent is reasonable while you are still testing a method, and 2% is the point at which a normal losing streak becomes genuinely painful.

How much is one pip worth on EURUSD?

$10 per standard lot (1.00), $1 per mini lot (0.10) and 10 cents per micro lot (0.01), for a USD-denominated account. That fixed relationship is what makes the lot table above possible.

What is the difference between pips and points in MT5?

On a 5-digit EURUSD quote one pip equals ten points, so a 15 pip stop is 150 points. MT4 usually asks for stop levels as prices and MT5 lets you switch to points, which is where the confusion starts.

Should the position size change with volatility?

Indirectly, and that is the elegant part — if you widen the stop when the market is fast, the formula shrinks the lot size automatically and your dollar risk stays flat. The distance itself is the volatility decision, and I compared the fixed and adaptive approaches in fixed stop against ATR stop.

Where do the volatility numbers on this page come from?

16,926 EURUSD 5-minute bars covering 60 trading days, June 3 to August 26, 2026 — the same dataset behind my best hours to trade EURUSD study and my Ichimoku cloud breakout test.