BTCUSD lot size calculator
A standard BTCUSD lot is 1 coin, quoted to 2 decimals, and one pip of 1 moves 1 USD per lot. Feed the calculator your account size, the percentage you are willing to lose and the distance to your stop, and it returns the size that puts exactly that much at risk — rounded down to your broker's lot step so the real risk never comes out above the target.
What makes BTCUSD different
Bitcoin is sized in whole coins: one lot is one BTC, so a 0.05 lot position is 0.05 of a coin. Stops here are measured in hundreds or thousands of dollars rather than pips, which makes the price mode the only sensible way to size it. Weekend trading and the absence of a closing bell mean gaps are less common than in indices, but the raw volatility more than compensates.
Contract specification
| Symbol | BTCUSD |
|---|---|
| Contract size (1 lot) | 1 |
| Quote currency | USD |
| Quoted decimals | 2 |
| Pip / point size | 1 |
| Pip value per standard lot | 1 USD |
BTCUSD pip value by lot size
Values in USD, the currency BTCUSD is quoted in. A pip here is 1.
| Lot size | Units | Value of 1 pip |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (1.00) | 1 | 1 USD |
| Mini (0.10) | 0.1 | 0.1 USD |
| Micro (0.01) | 0.01 | 0.01 USD |
A worked example
- Risk in money: a 10 000 USD account risking 1% puts 100 USD on the line.
- Stop distance in price: 1000 pips × 1 = 1,000.
- Loss per lot: 1,000 × 1 = 1,000 USD.
- Lot size: 100 ÷ 1,000 = 0.1, rounded down to 0.1.
The example assumes an account in USD. If yours is in another currency, every figure above gets multiplied by the rate from USD to your currency, which the calculator applies automatically.
Lot size for a 10 000 USD account
What each combination of risk and stop distance works out to. Read it as a sanity check on the number the calculator gives you.
| Risk | 500 pips | 1,000 pips | 2,000 pips | 4,000 pips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 % | 0.1 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| 1 % | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.05 | 0.02 |
| 2 % | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.05 |
| 3 % | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.15 | 0.07 |
Frequently asked questions
How much is one pip worth on BTCUSD?
On a standard lot of 1 coin, one pip of 1 is worth 1 USD. A mini lot is a tenth of that and a micro lot a hundredth. If your account is not in USD, multiply by the current rate from USD to your account currency.
What lot size should I use on BTCUSD?
There is no single right size: it depends on how much you are willing to lose and where your stop sits. Decide the loss first — most traders cap it at 1% to 2% of the account per trade — then divide that amount by the loss per lot at your stop distance. The calculator above does exactly that and rounds down to your broker's step.
Why does my broker show a different BTCUSD lot size?
Almost always because the contract or the pip definition differs. Open your platform's contract specification for BTCUSD, compare the contract size against 1 and the tick against 1, and correct them under "broker settings" above. The second cause is the conversion rate when your account currency is not USD; you can override that too.
Educational tool. Check the size in your platform before trading; leveraged trading carries a risk of loss.