How is the position size calculated?
Position size per trade is determined by your account balance, entry price, stop-loss level, and the amount of risk you're willing to take. The CPS Crypto Position Size Calculator allows you to factor in trading fees, ensuring your position size accurately reflects your intended risk.
Why should you include trading fees?
Trading fees affect your crypto position size when trading with a fixed risk. For example, suppose you're trading a $1,000 account and have set your risk per trade to 1% ($10). Based on your entry and stop-loss levels, your calculated position size is $500. If the exchange charges a total of 0.3% in trading fees (e.g., 0.1% maker fee and 0.2% taker fee), you would pay $1.50 in fees for both entry and exit. By including these fees in your position size calculation, your total loss when stopped out would be exactly $10 — or 1% of your account. However, if you ignore the fees, your actual loss would be $11.50, or 1.15% of your account—exceeding your intended risk. Therefore, we recommend always including trading fees in your position size calculation to ensure you stay within your defined risk.
Why is the position size important?
Risk management is the most critical factor in achieving long-term success as a trader. Many novice traders take excessive risks and end up blowing their accounts after just a few trades. This often results from trading with oversized positions and failing to use stop-loss orders. Effective risk management, proper position sizing, and loss protection go hand in hand. Professional traders typically risk only 1–3% of their account balance per trade — anything above that is considered high risk. For beginners, it's strongly recommended to stick to 1% risk per trade until consistent profitability is achieved. Calculating the correct position size based on risk management principles helps traders avoid excessive losses and maintain control over their trading outcomes.