Free tool
Crypto Position Size Risk Calculator
Decide what you're willing to lose if your stop is hit, and get the exact position size, with fees included. It also shows your margin, the estimated liquidation price, the highest safe leverage, your reward-to-risk and the win rate you need.
Calculator
What it's good for
- Sizing a call. Put in a call's entry, targets and stop, and you know exactly how much to buy for the risk you chose.
- Checking leverage before you open. See whether liquidation would hit before your stop, and the highest leverage that keeps it beyond.
- Planning partial take-profits. Close part of the position at each target and see what the whole plan pays against what it risks.
- Knowing the win rate you need. The break-even win rate tells you whether a setup is worth taking at all.
- Stress-testing a losing streak. See what three, five or ten losses in a row would do to the account before they happen.
- Sharing a setup. Copy a link that opens the calculator with your numbers already filled in.
How it works, with the example
Position size = the amount you're willing to lose ÷ (the distance from entry to stop + the fees).
- Account $10,000, risking 1%: the most this trade may lose is $100.
- Entry $80,000, stop $76,800: the stop is $3,200 away, or 4%.
- Without fees: $100 ÷ $3,200 = 0.0313 BTC. With 0.05% paid on the way in and out, the calculator sizes slightly smaller, 0.03050 BTC (a $2,440 position), so the loss with fees is still $100.
- At 5x you put up $488 of margin. The estimated liquidation, $64,400, sits below the stop, so the stop gets you out first.
- Closing 50% at $84,800, 30% at $89,600 and 20% at $96,000 makes $256 if every target hits: 2.56 times what the trade risks. At that ratio you break even winning 28% of trades.
Funding and slippage come on top, so a real loss at the stop can be a little larger.
Questions people ask
How much should I risk per trade?
Many traders cap the loss on any one trade at 1 to 2% of their account, so a run of losing trades can't wipe them out. The losing-streak table shows why: at 1% risk, ten losses in a row cost under 10% of the account. The right number depends on you; this calculator only does the math for the number you choose. It isn't financial advice.
Does leverage increase my risk?
Not if you size the position from your stop: the loss at the stop is the same at 1x or 10x, and leverage only changes how much margin you put up. What leverage adds is the chance of being liquidated before your stop is hit, plus funding and fees. The calculator estimates the liquidation price and the highest leverage that keeps it beyond your stop.
How accurate is the liquidation price?
It's an estimate for an isolated-margin position: entry × (1 − 1/leverage + maintenance margin) for a long, and the mirror for a short. Exchanges add their own fees, funding and tiered margin rules, so always check the liquidation price your exchange shows before you open the trade.
Does it work for shorts?
Yes. Put the stop above the entry and the calculator treats the trade as a short: the targets go below the entry, and the liquidation estimate is above it.
What is the break-even win rate?
The share of trades you'd need to win, at this reward-to-risk, just to break even: 1 ÷ (1 + reward-to-risk). At 2 : 1 you break even winning one trade in three; at 1 : 1 you need to win half.
Sizing DAC's calls
Every Data's Alpha Circle call comes with an entry, targets and a stop, so each one can be sized this way. The free Trader Starter Kit includes the Risk Management course, which covers leverage and how traders avoid getting liquidated. Trading through a hack or a crash? Keep the crypto hack checklist close.
General information, not financial advice. Crypto trading is risky.