Position Sizing With a EUR, GBP or Non-USD Account
Almost every sizing tutorial uses a USD account. If you're funded in euros, pounds, or any other currency, the steps are the same, plus one conversion that tutorials leave out because they never needed it.
The rule
Your risk is in your account currency. The pip value (or price move) is in the instrument's quote currency. Both have to be in the same currency before you divide.
That's the whole idea. The rest is examples.
Forex: EUR account trading USD/JPY
- Account: €10,000, risking 1% = €100
- Pair: USD/JPY, stop 25 pips
- Pip value per lot: JPY 1,000 (quote currency is yen)
- EUR/JPY at 162.00: JPY 1,000 ÷ 162 = €6.17 per pip
Lots = €100 ÷ (25 × €6.17) = 0.648. Round down to 0.64.
If you'd assumed "$10 a pip" you'd get €100 ÷ 250 = 0.40 lots. About 40% under-sized, every trade, without ever noticing.
Gold: GBP account trading XAU/USD
- Account: £10,000, risking 1% = £100
- GBP/USD at 1.2700, so £100 = $127 of risk
- Entry 2,650, stop 2,635: a $15 move
- 1 lot = 100 oz, so $15 × 100 = $1,500 per lot
Lots = $127 ÷ $1,500 = 0.0847. Round down to 0.08.
You can convert the risk into dollars (like here) or the move into pounds. Same answer. Pick one and stick to it.
Indices in their home currency
GER40 is quoted in euros, UK100 in pounds, JP225 in yen. With a USD account, a 50-point stop on GER40 at €1 per point per lot is €50 per lot, which you convert to dollars before dividing. With a EUR account, there's nothing to convert. See the index sizing guide for contract sizes.
When it doesn't matter
If your account currency is the pair's quote currency, there's no conversion. EUR account on GER40, GBP account on EUR/GBP, USD account on EUR/USD. That's the case tutorials always pick.
Rates move
The conversion uses today's rate. A pip value you wrote down last month is off by however much the rate moved. Small per trade, but it adds up across a challenge with a tight daily limit.
Quick version
- Risk in account currency.
- Pip value or price move in quote currency.
- Convert one into the other at the current rate.
- Divide, round down.
The position size calculator supports 16 account currencies and converts with live rates. Pick your currency, then try USD/JPY or GER40.