Lot Size Calculator
What a lot size actually means on your instrument: how many units you control, what a pip is worth, and how much exposure and margin it takes. Gold and silver do not use the same contract size as FX, which is where most sizing surprises come from.
Conventional value for EUR/USD is 100,000 units of EUR. Brokers vary — check yours and override if needed.
| Lot | Size | Quantity | Per pip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 1 | 100,000 | $10.00 |
| Mini | 0.1 | 10,000 | $1.00 |
| Micro | 0.01 | 1,000 | $0.10 |
| Nano | 0.001 | 100 | $0.01 |
Why contract size matters more than the lot number
“One lot” is not a quantity. It is a multiplier on whatever the instrument’s contract happens to be. One lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros. One lot of gold is 100 troy ounces. One lot of silver is 5,000. The word is identical and the exposure is not remotely comparable.
This is why someone comfortable with 0.5 lots on a major can open a gold or silver position that behaves nothing like the size they had in mind. Check the contract size on any new instrument before you check anything else about it.
Common questions
What is the difference between a standard, mini and micro lot?
A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini lot is 10,000 units, and a micro lot is 1,000 units. On a USD-quoted pair such as EUR/USD that works out to roughly $10, $1 and $0.10 per pip respectively.
How many units is 0.01 lots?
0.01 lots is one micro lot, which is 1,000 units of the base currency. On most USD-quoted pairs that is about $0.10 per pip, so a 50-pip loss costs around $5.
What is the contract size for gold and silver?
One standard lot of gold is conventionally 100 troy ounces, and silver is 5,000 troy ounces — not the 100,000 currency units an FX lot gives you. That is why the same lot number produces wildly different exposure across instruments, and it is the single most common sizing mistake when someone moves from majors to metals. Contract sizes vary between brokers, so confirm yours.
How much margin does one lot require?
Margin is notional exposure divided by leverage, so it depends on both the price and your leverage cap. One standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.08 is $108,000 of notional; at the 30:1 cap that UK and EU retail clients get on major pairs, that ties up $3,600. Gold is capped lower at 20:1, so it consumes proportionally more margin for the same notional.
Is lot size the same as position size?
They are two halves of one decision. Position size is how much you should trade given the risk you are willing to take; lot size is the unit your broker accepts that quantity in. Work out the risk-based answer first with the position size calculator, then use this page to check what that lot number actually commits you to.
Where we use this
Every backtest we publish prices its costs from the real contract size, not a rounded assumption.
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