How to Calculate Your Position Size On TradingView

If you are new to trading calculating your position size is often one of the harder things to do, and, equally, if you are new – you are likely already familiar with or an active user of TradingView. Here’s our quick, no nonsense guide to calculating your position size on TradingView.

Overview / TLDR

Use the ‘Projection’ tool in the left hand menu and click on long position or short position. That will help you quickly calculate a long or short position but it might require some tweaking / adjustments, and you will likely need a third-party tool like a Position Size Calculator or Lot Size Calculator to help you validate the lot size for that instrument on your broker.

How to Calculate Your Position Size on TradingView

Here’s the simple step-by-step I follow to calculate position size on TradingView. Now, it’s not foolproof but it’s close.

Step 1: Set Your Risk Amount

Before I even think about charts, I decide how much of my account I’m willing to risk.

Let’s say I have a £5,000 account and I want to risk 1% per trade.

That means:

£50 risk per trade

That’s your anchor. Everything else builds from this.

Step 2: Draw Your Entry and Stop Loss on TradingView

This is where TradingView shines.

Use the long position tool (or short position tool if you’re selling).

• Click once at your entry
• Drag the top bar to your target
• Drag the bottom bar to your stop loss

This visual gives you a clean risk-to-reward picture.

Look at the bottom section — it shows your stop size in pips, points, or price depending on the asset. That number is crucial. As you can see in the image – it comes up with a bunch or random numbers, that’s because there are some defaults i need to adjust. So, double-click on the box itself and you will be taken to this input (see below). Where you can adjust account size, risk, entry price etc. Not it’s not the easiest to understand… which brings me onto the next step.

Let’s say I’m trading GBP/USD, and my stop loss is 50 pips.

Step 3: Use a Position Size Calculator (Yes, an External One)

Now that you know:

• Your account risk (£50)
• Your stop loss (50 pips)
• The pair (GBP/USD)
• Your account currency (GBP)

You plug it into a Position Size Calculator so that it can actually help you determine the lot size for your broker.

It’ll tell you exactly:

• How many lots to trade
• What the pip value is
• How much you’re risking in your base currency

You copy that number into your broker’s order panel either in TradingView – if connected to a trading broker that connects to TradingView or directly in your broker platform directly.

Pro tip: Bookmark the calculator. I use it before every trade, even scalps.

Can’t TradingView Do This Automatically?

Not quite — but it’s getting closer.

You have two decent workarounds:

1. Use the “Trade Panel” (if your broker is linked)

If you’ve connected a broker, you can place trades directly. But the lot size field is manual — it doesn’t auto-calculate based on your stop or risk amount.

So again, you still need to calculate it beforehand.

2. Use Community Scripts

There are some clever Pine Script indicators that estimate position size — like:

• Position Size Calculator by LazyBear
• Risk Management Tools by pipchart
• Auto Position Size Tools (user scripts)

But they’re hit or miss. Some aren’t maintained. Others are clunky. Most require you to input your balance manually on each chart — not ideal.

So while helpful, none of them beat a dedicated calculator built for the job.

Why I Use an External Calculator (Every Time)

TradingView’s strength is in visuals. The clean charting, the price action, the drawing tools, they are pretty top tier.

But risk management? That’s on me.

Here’s why we built Position Size Calculator.

• ✅ It works with forex, indices, stocks, crypto
• ✅ It handles different currencies, leverage, and lot conventions
• ✅ It’s fast… 10 seconds and I’ve got my size
• ✅ I never have to guess or use rough numbers

It takes a few seconds and stops me from ever having to “hope” I didn’t oversize.

The Mistake I Made (More Than Once)

OK a little confessional…Before I got serious about lot sizing, I’d eyeball things.

• “It’s a clean setup, I’ll go in with 0.2 lots.”
• “I’ve got room to add more, I’ll go 0.5.”

No real calculation. No stop loss planning. And definitely no idea how much I was risking until the trade was over.

Then one day, a tight GBP/USD scalp cost me £175, more than 3% of my account (!) all because I’d sized up too far on instinct.

That’s when I made the switch.

Every trade now gets sized properly before I click anything.

Final Thoughts: TradingView Is a Beast… But Risk Is Still on You

If you’re using TradingView for your trading (and honestly, why wouldn’t you?), make sure you’re pairing it with proper risk tools.

Don’t rely on gut feel.

Don’t assume TradingView will “handle it” once connected to your broker.

And definitely don’t enter trades without knowing your exact lot size.

Instead:

1. Use the chart to plan your entry and stop
2. Note the distance in pips or points
3. Plug the numbers into PositionSizeCalculator.co.uk
4. Trade with confidence, because your size is spot on

That’s how pros do it & hopefully how you will do it now that you’ve read this article!