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Trade Planner

Plan a whole trade in one place: position size, risk, reward-to-risk, break-even win rate and the effect on total open risk.

To plan a trade is to answer four questions that depend on each other: where the stop goes, how large the position should be, what the reward is relative to the risk, and what the whole thing does to the risk already open elsewhere. A trade planner answers them together, because taking them one at a time hides the interactions.

Formula: size, reward-to-risk, break-even win rate and portfolio heat from one set of levels

Your figures

Percentage of the balance to risk if the stop is hit.

The stop set when the trade was opened, not one moved later.

Optional — adds the reward and break-even figures.

Optional — spread and commission for the whole trade.

Optional — total risk on your other open positions.

Your plan

Position size

50

units, risking US$100.00

Amount at risk
US$100.00
Risk per unit
2.0000
Position value
US$5,000.00
Stop distance
2.00%
Risk / reward ratio
3.00 : 1
Reward if the target is reached
US$300.00
Break-even win rate
25.00%
Total open risk after this trade
US$100.00 · 1.00%
Balance if stopped out
US$9,900.00
Balance if the target is reached
US$10,300.00

What this means

50 units at 100.0000 commits US$5,000.00 and risks US$100.00 for a 3.00:1 reward-to-risk ratio, which needs 25.00% of such trades to win just to break even. After this trade 1.00% of the account would be at risk across all open positions. These are the arithmetic consequences of the levels you entered, not a view on whether the trade should be taken.

  • Changing the stop changes the size, which changes the position value and the total open risk. A plan that looks fine on one measure can still fail on another.
  • Assumes both the stop and the target fill at their prices. Gaps and slippage make the realised outcome worse than either figure.

Position size: 50

The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.

Continue with these figures

About the Trade Planner calculation

Position size and risk reward are locked to the same input. Tightening a stop to improve the reward-to-risk ratio increases the position size, which increases the capital committed and the exposure to a gap. Widening it does the reverse. A plan that looks disciplined on any single measure can still be poor once the others are in view.

This trading plan calculator runs all four at once from a single set of levels, so changing any input shows its full consequence immediately. As a trade risk planner it sizes and measures the trade you describe — it has no view on whether the trade is worth taking.

Trade Planner formula

risk amount   = balance × risk % ÷ 100
risk per unit = |entry − stop|
units         = risk amount ÷ risk per unit
position value = units × entry

with a target:
  ratio      = |target − entry| ÷ risk per unit
  break-even = risk ÷ (risk + reward)
  with costs = (risk + costs) ÷ (risk + reward)

portfolio heat = (existing risk + risk amount) ÷ balance × 100
risk amount
Cash lost if the stop is hit — not the capital committed.
position value
Capital committed, usually many times the risk amount.
portfolio heat
Total open risk across every position, including this one.

The chain runs in one direction: the stop determines the risk per unit, which determines the size, which determines the position value and the heat. Everything downstream moves when the stop moves, which is why the stop is the decision that matters most and the one worth making first.

Risk amount and position value are routinely confused, and the gap between them is large. Risking 1% of a $10,000 account with a stop 2% from entry commits $5,000 — half the account — to risk $100. That is fixed-fractional sizing working correctly, not an error, but it needs to be seen.

Costs enter only through the break-even win rate, because they are paid whether the trade wins or loses. They make winners smaller and losers larger simultaneously, so they raise the required win rate by more than their size alone suggests.

Trade Planner: a worked example

A $10,000 account risking 1%, going long at 100 with a stop at 98 and a target at 106, with $250 of risk already open on other positions.

  1. Risk amount10,000 × 1% = $100
  2. Risk per unit|100 − 98| = 2.00
  3. Position size100 ÷ 2 = 50 units
  4. Position value50 × 100 = $5,000
  5. Reward-to-risk|106 − 100| ÷ 2 = 3.00 : 1
  6. Break-even win rate2 ÷ (2 + 6) = 25.00%
  7. Total open risk250 + 100 = $350, or 3.50%

50 units, committing $5,000 to risk $100, at a 3:1 ratio needing a 25% win rate to break even. After this trade 3.5% of the account is at risk across all open positions.

How to use the Trade Planner

  1. Start with the direction and the entry and stop prices. A trade setup calculator can only work from the levels you give it, and the stop is the decision everything else follows from.
  2. Enter your account balance and the percentage you are willing to risk.
  3. Add a target to see the reward-to-risk ratio and the win rate it implies. Leave it blank to size the trade without one.
  4. Add round-trip costs to see how much they raise the required win rate.
  5. Add the risk already open on other positions to see the total exposure rather than this trade in isolation.
  6. Adjust the stop and watch every other figure move. That interaction is the point of planning all four together.

Limitations of the Trade Planner

Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.

  • Assumes both the stop and the target fill at their prices. Gaps and slippage make the realised outcome worse than either figure.
  • Excludes swap and overnight financing on positions held for more than a day.
  • Treats open positions as independent when computing heat. Correlated positions can stop out together and behave like one larger position.
  • Says nothing about whether the levels are well chosen. It plans the trade you describe; it does not assess it.

Frequently asked questions about Trade Planner

Why is the position value so much larger than the amount at risk?

Because the stop is close to the entry. Committing $5,000 to risk $100 simply means the stop is 2% away. A wider stop commits less capital to risk the same amount, which is the trade-off fixed-fractional sizing makes explicit.

Should I tighten the stop to improve the reward-to-risk ratio?

It does improve the ratio, and it also increases the position size and the capital committed, and makes the trade more likely to be stopped out by ordinary noise. This calculator shows all of those consequences at once precisely so the trade-off is visible rather than hidden.

What should I enter for risk already open?

The total cash you would lose if every other open position hit its stop. That turns the heat figure into your real exposure rather than this trade considered alone — which is the number that actually matters after a few positions are on.

Do I need a target?

No. Position sizing needs only the entry and the stop, and the calculator omits the reward figures rather than inventing a target. Adding one is what makes the break-even win rate available.

How does this relate to the individual calculators?

It produces the same numbers, chained together. The position size, risk/reward, break-even win rate and portfolio heat calculators each go deeper on one step, with fuller explanations; this page shows how they interact when one input changes.

Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.

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