Pip value, position size, margin, P&L and compounding — priced in rand. No sign-up, no fluff.
Each cell is the share of the account still standing after that many losses in a row, if every trade risks that percentage of the balance at the time. Streaks of eight are ordinary; the difference between risking 1% and 5% is the difference between a dent and a hole.
| Risk per trade | 3 losses | 5 losses | 8 losses | 10 losses | 15 losses | 20 losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5% | 99% | 98% | 96% | 95% | 93% | 90% |
| 1% | 97% | 95% | 92% | 90% | 86% | 82% |
| 2% | 94% | 90% | 85% | 82% | 74% | 67% |
| 3% | 91% | 86% | 78% | 74% | 63% | 54% |
| 5% | 86% | 77% | 66% | 60% | 46% | 36% |
| 10% | 73% | 59% | 43% | 35% | 21% | 12% |
The row to read is the one you actually trade. Recovering a 50% drawdown takes a 100% gain, which is why the bottom rows are not a worse version of the top ones but a different outcome.
Start from the question rather than the tool. The third column is what each calculator needs from you — if you do not have those numbers yet, that is the thing to go and find first.
| What you want to know | Calculator | What it needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| How much is one pip worth on my position? | Pip value → | pair · lot size · account currency |
| How many lots may I trade without risking more than I planned? | Lot size → | balance · risk % · stop distance |
| How much of my balance will this trade lock up? | Margin → | pair · lot size · leverage |
| What do I make or lose if price reaches my target? | Profit and loss → | entry · exit · lot size |
| What does holding this position overnight cost? | Swap → | pair · lot size · nights held |
| Where does a steady monthly return take my account? | Compound growth → | balance · monthly % · months |
| What is a pip worth across every instrument at once? | Pip value table → | account currency |
Every one of them runs in the browser, keeps no account, and converts into your account currency at the day's reference rate.
Every tool runs in rand and recalculates as you type. Pick one to jump straight to it.
Size every position to a fixed % risk and stop-loss in pips.
Open →See the margin a trade locks up at 1:50 to 1:500 leverage.
Open →Model entry, exit and direction to project the rand outcome.
Open →Project account growth from a monthly return over time.
Open →Calculate the overnight fee cost for holding a position past midnight.
Open →Professionals decide how much they're willing to lose first, then work backwards to the lot size. A pip calculator turns "2% of R50,000 over a 40-pip stop" into an exact position size, so a single trade can never cost more than you planned.
A $100 risk on a $10,000 account is 1% whatever you trade. What changes is how many lots that buys: a tight stop buys many, a wide stop buys few. Drag the stop and watch the two numbers move in opposite directions while the money at risk stays still.
| Stop-loss | Lot size | Per pip | If stopped out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 pips | 1.00 | $10.00 | −$100.00 |
| 20 pips | 0.50 | $5.00 | −$100.00 |
| 40 pips | 0.25 | $2.50 | −$100.00 |
| 60 pips | 0.17 | $1.67 | −$100.00 |
| 100 pips | 0.10 | $1.00 | −$100.00 |
| 150 pips | 0.07 | $0.67 | −$100.00 |
| 200 pips | 0.05 | $0.50 | −$100.00 |
The last column is the point: every row loses the same 1% if the stop is hit. That is what position sizing buys you — one decision about risk instead of a new one per trade.
Every forex position moves in pips, but your profit and loss lands in your account currency. If you trade a ZAR account, a 40-pip stop on USD/ZAR is a very different rand amount than the same stop on USD/JPY — and guessing is how accounts blow up.
A pip is the smallest standard step a price takes. Which digit that is depends on the instrument, not on your broker — and getting it wrong is how a position ends up ten times the intended size. The readout shows the pip digit for EUR/USD; the table lists the conventions you will meet on this site.
| Instrument | Pip size | Decimal | One pip looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard pair (EUR/USD) | 0.0001 | 4th | 1.0906 → 1.0907 = 1 pip |
| JPY pair (USD/JPY) | 0.01 | 2nd | 149.85 → 149.86 = 1 pip |
| Gold (XAU/USD) | 0.01 | 2nd | 4178.50 → 4178.51 = 1 pip |
| Silver (XAG/USD) | 0.01 | 2nd | 61.11 → 61.12 = 1 pip |
Leverage decides how much margin a trade locks up; your stop-loss decides how much you actually risk. Keeping the two separate — and checking both before entry — is the habit that keeps a trading account alive.
Margin level is equity divided by the margin in use. Start from an account with $10,000 equity and $2,000 tied up in open trades, then drag the loss: the ladder shows what each threshold costs you in money, not in percentages.
The money column is the loss that takes this account to that level. It is the same arithmetic the calculator above runs — the point of the ladder is that the dangerous levels arrive much closer together than the percentages suggest.
Pip value changes with the pair, the lot size and the current exchange rate. Running the numbers lets you compare a setup on GBP/ZAR against one on EUR/USD using the one figure that matters: rand at risk per pip.
