Risk Management: Position Sizing for CFD Traders
Professional traders focus on how much to risk per trade. A simple position-sizing formula can protect your account through losing streaks.
Risk no more than 1–2% of account equity on any single CFD trade. Calculate position size by dividing your dollar risk by the distance to your stop-loss in price terms.
Example: on a $5,000 account risking 1% ($50), if your stop is 20 pips away on EUR/USD, size the lot accordingly so a 20-pip loss equals $50 — not your entire margin.
Checklist before every trade
- Defined entry, stop, and target
- Risk amount in dollars, not just pips
- Correlation with existing open positions