Standard, mini or micro: which lot size do you actually use?

A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini lot 10,000 and a micro lot 1,000 — but plenty of platforms now offer 0.01 lots as their smallest size, which is where small accounts belong.

Standard, mini or micro: which lot size do you actually use? — risk-reward diagram
A risk-reward ratio of 1 to 2

It helps other beginners to hear:

  • your account size and typical position size
  • whether your broker offers fractional sizes below 0.01 lots
  • how position size changes when you trade a pair with a wider daily range
Standard, mini or micro: which lot size do you actually use? — support and resistance diagram
Price bouncing between support and resistance

The lot sizes guide covers the full arithmetic.

Background: Lot sizes explained: standard, mini and micro lots

A lot sets how many units of currency you buy or sell. Getting it wrong is the fastest way to turn a small price move into a large loss.

How many units is 0.01 lot?

0.01 lot is a micro lot: 1,000 units of the base currency.

How much margin do I need for one lot?

It depends on the leverage available and the price. At 30:1 leverage, one standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.15 (about $115,000) needs roughly $3,833 in margin.

Read the full guide

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