A step-by-step guide to calculating your lot size using risk, stop loss and gold's specifications. Always test your numbers in our live calculators below to ensure stop loss distance and maximum drawdown buffer remain compliant.
Why Gold "Pips" Cause Sizing Errors
Brokers quote gold differently: some show 2 decimal places ($2000.50), others show 3 decimal places ($2000.500). Because "pips" on gold can mean $1.00, $0.10, or $0.01 depending on your broker terminal, quoting in pips frequently results in sizing trades 10x too large or 10x too small.
The solution is to calculate position sizes using dollar price move distance rather than pips.
In standard prop firm broker accounts, 1.00 lot of XAUUSD equals 100 ounces of gold. This means a $1.00 price move equals exactly $100 in profit or loss.
The Quick Gold Lot Size Formula
Example: On a $50,000 account risking 1% ($500) with a $5.00 dollar stop distance (e.g. entry $2,000, stop $1,995):
Gold (XAUUSD) Lot Size Calculator
To size gold (XAUUSD) trades, multiply account balance by risk percentage for cash risk. Divide by price stop distance in dollars multiplied by contract size (standard 100 oz). On 1.00 lot, a $1 move equals $100.
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