Lot

### The three sizes, and what a pip costs in each Standard (1.00) is 100,000 units of the base currency, mini (0.10) is 10,000, micro (0.01) is 1,000. On a USD-quoted major that works out to about $10, $1 and $0.10 per pip respectively, [per CMC Markets](https://www.cmcmarkets.com/en/forex/forex-lot-sizes). The same page lists a nano lot of 100 units at select brokers, worth about a cent a pip. Many brokers step volume in 0.01 increments, which makes the micro lot the smallest click available. ### Work backwards, always The sizing formula, as CMC Markets states it: lot size = (account balance x risk %) / (stop distance in pips x pip value). Their worked example: a $10,000 account risking 1%, so $100, with a 50 pip stop on EURUSD at $10 a pip. $100 / (50 x $10) = 0.2 lots, which is two mini lots. Now drop that into our system. Your stop is not a number you get to choose. It is dictated by the chart, because it has to cover protected structure by at least 2 pips. So stop distance changes with every setup, which means **lot size changes with every setup**. An A+ price delivery, a small rejection candle right on the level, gives you a short stop and therefore a bigger lot. A delayed, oversized rejection gives a long stop and a smaller lot. Dollar risk stays identical either way, because the risk percentage is what stays fixed. Traders who keep the lot fixed and stretch the stop to make it fit have inverted the whole process, and that is the habit that ends accounts. One detail people skip: round the computed lot **down** to the broker's step, never up. Rounding up quietly pushes you past your planned risk on every single trade. ### A lot is a convention, not a law The 100,000 unit standard is a retail broker convention. On the exchange the unit is something else entirely: the CME Euro FX futures contract is 125,000 euros, with a minimum price move of 0.00005 worth $6.25 per contract, [per NinjaTrader's contract specs](https://ninjatrader.com/futures/futures-contracts/currency/euro-forex/). Same currency, completely different standardised size. Never carry a size habit from one venue to another without re-checking what a "1" means there. And keep leverage in its own lane. Leverage decides whether the broker will *let* you open the position. Lot size decides how much you lose when you are wrong.