Size futures trades by risk, stop distance, and contract value.
This futures position size calculator helps prop trading firm traders estimate how many contracts they can take based on a fixed dollar risk, stop loss distance, and tick value. Instead of guessing size, you can quickly convert your risk plan into a contract amount that fits your rules. This is especially useful in funded accounts where daily loss limits, trailing drawdowns, and strict risk controls matter. By sizing from risk first, traders can stay more consistent across different futures markets.
Enter the amount you are willing to risk on the trade in dollars. Then enter your stop loss distance in ticks and the tick value for one contract of the instrument you are trading. The calculator multiplies stop ticks by tick value to find the risk per contract, then divides your allowed account risk by that amount to estimate the largest whole-number position size. If your prop firm has a contract cap, enter that too, and the tool will limit the result so it stays within your maximum allowed size.
Suppose you are trading NQ in a prop firm account and want to risk $200 on a setup. Your stop is 20 ticks away, and each tick is worth $5 per contract. That means one contract risks $100 total. Based on your $200 risk limit, you could trade 2 contracts. If your firm only allows 1 contract during evaluation scaling, the calculator will show 1 as the recommended size. Using a futures position size calculator like this can help you protect your account, avoid oversizing, and follow a repeatable process on every trade.
In 2026, one of the easiest ways to understate risk is forgetting that your stop-loss loss is not the whole loss on futures. If you enter and exit with market orders, add both taker fees plus expected slippage to your dollar risk before sizing the position. Example: risking $100 on a tight stop with 0.06% taker fee each side can turn into $112-$118 real risk on high-notional trades. On smaller stop distances, fees can be a meaningful share of total risk.