Futures Lot Size Calculator

Divide your risk amount by the risk per contract. Risk per contract equals your stop loss in points multiplied by the contract's point value. For example, risking $500 on ES (E-mini S&P 500) with a 10-point stop: each point is worth $50, so one contract risks $500 — you can trade 1 contract. This calculator does the math automatically for all major futures contracts.

Tick size is the minimum price increment a contract can move, while tick value is how much money one tick is worth. For ES, the tick size is 0.25 points and the tick value is $12.50, which makes one full point worth $50. For NQ, the tick size is 0.25 and the tick value is $5.00, so one point is worth $20.

One point is worth $50 on ES (E-mini S&P 500), $20 on NQ (E-mini Nasdaq 100), $1,000 on CL (Crude Oil, i.e. $10 per 0.01 move), and $100 on GC (Gold). Micro contracts are worth one-tenth of these amounts: $5 per point on MES, $2 on MNQ, $10 on MGC.

Micro contracts (MES, MNQ, MCL, MGC) are one-tenth the size of their E-mini counterparts, with one-tenth the tick value and margin requirement. They let you size positions more precisely and risk less per trade, which makes them ideal for smaller accounts and for staying within prop firm drawdown limits.

A common guideline is 0.5% to 2% of your account per trade. On a $50,000 evaluation account, that means risking $250 to $1,000 per trade. Prop firm accounts also have daily loss limits and trailing drawdowns, so many funded traders stay near the lower end to survive losing streaks without breaching the account.

Your total risk on open positions should never exceed your remaining daily drawdown, otherwise a single stop-out can breach your account. If you enter your max daily drawdown in this calculator, it automatically caps the number of contracts so your total risk fits within that limit.

It depends on your risk per trade and stop distance, not just account size. Risking 1% ($500) with a 10-point stop on ES allows 1 contract, while the same risk with a 25-point stop on MES allows 4 micro contracts. Enter your own account size, risk, and stop loss above to get your exact contract count.

Yes. It includes presets for 15 popular futures contracts — E-mini and Micro index futures (ES, MES, NQ, MNQ, RTY, M2K, YM, MYM), energy (CL, MCL), metals (GC, MGC, SI, SIL), and Euro FX (6E) — plus a custom option where you can enter any tick size and tick value manually.