How crypto position size works
Position size (coins) = Money at risk ÷ (Entry price − Stop loss price)
Example: a $10,000 account risking 1% is $100. Buying BTC at 86,000 with a stop at 85,000 is a $1,000 stop, so the size is $100 ÷ $1,000 = 0.1 BTC. How you enter that depends on where you trade:
| Where you trade | 1 lot or contract | Smallest step | 0.1 BTC is |
|---|---|---|---|
| MT5 brokers and prop firms | Usually 1 coin (check the symbol's specification) | 0.01 lot | 0.10 lots |
| Delta Exchange India | BTC: 0.001 BTC; ETH: 0.01 ETH | 1 contract | 100 contracts |
| Binance, Bybit (USDT perpetuals) | Size is entered in coins (or in USDT) | BTCUSDT: 0.001 BTC on Binance | 0.1 BTC |
| CoinDCX futures | Size in coins, or in INR or USDT | Check the pair | 0.1 BTC |
Prop firms rarely publish their crypto contract sizes. The5ers, for one, tells traders to check the latest specifications in MT5. Right-click the symbol in Market Watch and open Specification; if one lot isn't one coin, choose "Other" in the calculator and enter the contract size.
Margin can limit you before risk does
Prop firms give much less leverage on crypto than on forex: 1:2 at GFT and Blue Guardian and during the FundingPips evaluation, and 1:1 on FundingPips Master accounts. In the example above, 0.1 BTC at 86,000 is a $8,600 position, which needs $4,300 of margin at 1:2: 43% of the account for a trade that risks 1%.
Tighten the stop to $300 and the size for the same $100 risk becomes 0.33 lots, worth $28,380. At 1:2 that needs $14,190 of margin, more than the whole account, so the platform won't open it. With low leverage, a wider stop and a smaller size is often the only trade that fits. Firms with a margin-use rule, such as GFT's 80% rule, cap it further; the GFT margin rule calculator checks that.
What is a pip on BTCUSD?
There's no standard. Some brokers treat $0.10 as a pip on BTCUSD, and some calculators use $1. MT5 itself measures in points, the smallest price step your broker quotes. Because the definitions differ, size crypto trades from the dollar distance to your stop, as this calculator does, rather than from a pip count.
Fees, weekends and leverage on exchanges
- Fees eat into small stops. Delta Exchange charges 0.05% of the position value as a taker fee, plus 18% GST on the fee. On the $8,600 example that's about $10.15 for the round trip, a tenth of the $100 you planned to risk.
- Crypto trades every day. Exchanges never close, but prop firms set their own weekend rules: FundingPips doesn't allow holding over the weekend on funded accounts without an add-on, and FXIFY doesn't allow crypto at weekends on its forex instant accounts.
- High leverage doesn't change the risk. Delta allows up to 200x on its BTCUSD perpetual. Leverage only changes the margin; the money you lose at the stop is set by the size, which is why the size comes first.
Crypto tax in India, briefly
Gains from transferring crypto and other virtual digital assets are taxed at a flat 30%, with 1% TDS on transfers above the yearly threshold, and losses can't be set off against other income or carried forward. The Union Budget of 1 February 2026 didn't change these rates. How profit from crypto futures is taxed is less settled, so ask a tax adviser before you file.