FTMO $10,000 Challenge — Position Size Calculator

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Risk Guide

With FTMO's $500 daily loss limit on a 10k account, you're walking a tightrope that demands precise position sizing. At 1% risk per trade, you can survive exactly 5 consecutive losses before hitting the daily breach - that's $100 × 5 = $500. Drop to 2% risk, and just 2.5 losing trades will end your day, meaning two full losses plus any partial loss on a third trade kills your session. Here's where traders get burned: they think 2% risk is conservative, but with FTMO's tight daily limit, it's actually aggressive. The math is unforgiving - if you're risking $200 per trade and take two losses (-$400), you have only $100 buffer left, meaning your next trade must have a stop loss under $100 or you risk a breach. For position sizing, use this formula: Position Size = (Account × Risk%) ÷ (Stop Loss in Pips × Pip Value). On EURUSD with a 30-pip stop at 1% risk: (10000 × 0.01) ÷ (30 × $10) = 0.33 lots. For indices like NAS100 where pip value varies, calculate: if NAS100 is at 15000 and you want a 50-point stop, each 0.1 lot = $1 per point, so your stop loss value is 50 × $10 = $500 for 1 lot. To risk 1% ($100), use 0.2 lots. Gold traders need extra caution - with XAUUSD at $2000 and a $20 stop, one standard lot risks $2000, so 0.05 lots risks $100. The key difference between challenge phases: Phase 1 requires 10% profit ($1000) while Phase 2 needs only 5% ($500), but your daily loss limit stays at $500 throughout. This means your risk management can't relax in Phase 2 - that daily guillotine never moves. Smart traders often reduce position sizes as they approach profit targets, banking gains rather than risking a daily loss breach when they're close to passing.

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