Free tool · no login
Futures Position Sizing Calculator
Pick your market and your max risk per trade — MAV shows the exact number of contracts to take for any stop distance, then lets you export the whole sheet as an image.
Position sizing cheat sheet
Pick your market and your max risk per trade — MAV builds the sheet so you know exactly how many contracts to take for any stop distance.
Micro Nasdaq 100 · 1 point = $2 per contract · 1 tick ($0.25) = $0.5
1 point on MNQ = $2 per contract · risk stays $500 every trade — stay consistent. Contracts = max risk ÷ (points × $/point).
Educational position-sizing math — not financial advice. Confirm contract specs with your broker.
The formula, in one line
Contracts = max risk ÷ (stop in points × $ per point), rounded down. The rounding matters: 3.8 contracts is 3, never 4 — the fourth is the one that pushes a normal loss past the limit you set.
- Fix the dollar, not the contracts — Decide what a loss costs before you decide how big to go. The contract count is the output, not the input.
- A wider stop is not more risk — It’s fewer contracts. Same dollars either way — that’s the whole point of sizing to the stop.
- Micros exist for this — When one full-size contract already breaks your limit, the micro (MNQ $2/pt vs NQ $20/pt) is how you keep the trade and the rule.
- Prop rules stack on top — Your firm’s daily-loss limit divided by your per-trade risk is how many losers in a row the day survives. If that number is under three, the size is too big for the account.
This is one free tool. There's a lot more.
Free gets you the Learning academy bar its Strategy Lab pillar, a journal for your first 20 trades, and the P&L calendar and Analytics page those trades feed. Pro ($18.99/mo) lifts that trade cap and adds broker imports, the Risk Manager, the AI Coach and The Stack for every prop account. Premium ($29.99/mo) adds the psychology suite and the Strategy Lab — your odds of passing an eval, run over the trades you actually took.
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More free tools — no login
Prop Eval Odds Calculator
Enter your edge and your firm’s rules — see the simulated odds of reaching the target before the drawdown.
Consistency Rule Calculator
Split a profit target into days and check the biggest day against your firm’s best-day cap.
All three live together on the free tools page.
Position sizing — frequently asked
How do I calculate position size for futures?
Decide your maximum dollar risk per trade and your stop distance in points, then divide: contracts = max risk ÷ (stop points × the contract’s point value). This free calculator does the math for you across MNQ, NQ, ES, MES, Gold, Crude and more.
How many MNQ contracts should I trade risking $500?
Micro E-mini Nasdaq (MNQ) is $2 per point. With a $500 max risk and a 50-point stop, that’s 500 ÷ (50 × $2) = 5 contracts. Change the market, risk amount, or stop distance above and the cheat sheet recalculates instantly.
Why do MNQ, NQ, ES and MES need different sizing?
Each contract has a different dollar value per point — MNQ $2, MES $5, NQ $20, ES $50 — so the same stop distance risks very different amounts. Pick the market you trade above and the calculator adjusts the contract count for you.
Can I size by a percentage of my account?
Yes. Enter your account size and a risk percentage (for example 1%) instead of a flat dollar amount, and the tool converts it to a contract count for any stop distance.
Is this position-sizing calculator free?
Completely free, and no login is required. A free MAV account also lets you journal up to 20 trades and keeps this same cheat sheet inside the Learning academy. Simulating your odds of passing an evaluation from those logged trades is a different feature — the Strategy Lab, which is part of the Premium plan ($29.99/month).
Does this help with prop-firm evaluations?
It helps you cap risk per trade so you can stay inside a prop firm’s daily-loss and drawdown limits — sizing is the lever that decides how many losers in a row an account survives. It doesn’t model a consistency rule (the cap on how much of your profit one day can be); MAV has a separate free calculator for that, linked below. Educational tool, not financial advice — always confirm contract specs and rules with your broker and firm.
Educational position-sizing math — not financial advice. Confirm contract specs with your broker. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss.