• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Trading Heroes

Trading Heroes

Forex Trading Education

  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
  • Login

Fastest Ways to Calculate Forex Tester Lot Size with Percent Risk

One of the most glaring things that is missing in Forex Tester is the ability to automatically calculate lot size, based on percentage risk. Here's how to fix that.

Home / Trading Tools and Resources / Fastest Ways to Calculate Forex Tester Lot Size with Percent Risk

By Hugh Kimura

I get this question a lot:

“How do you calculate the correct lot size in Forex Tester, based on percentage risk?”

Forex Tester is a great piece of software that has helped many traders become consistently profitable. But it kills me that you cannot enter a trade based on percentage risk.

TradingView has this feature for live trading, which I use all the time.

Tradingview percent risk

Without a way to accurately calculate the correct lot size, you may make mistakes, which will lead to inaccurate testing results or lost time, when you have to go back and retest the trade. 

So if you are having the same frustration, here are two ways that you can easy calculate your lot size in Forex Tester, by using percentage risk. One method is free and takes some time, while the other is paid and instant.

SEE ALSO: Learn the RSI Divergence trading strategy that works

Either way there is something for everyone. 

If you prefer the text version, it is provided below the video.

…and yes, this works for both Forex Tester 2 and Forex Tester 3 🙂

How to Calculate Forex Tester Lot Size Based on Percentage Risk Video Tutorial

Roll Your Own Spreadsheet

Traders ask me how to setup a spreadsheet for testing and it's actually quite easy.

Here's how you do it…

First, open your favorite spreadsheet program. If you don't have one, you can sign up for Google Drive for free and you can create your spreadsheet there. It doesn't matter which program you use because the calculations are pretty simple.

Next, create these row titles:

  • Account Balance (entered)
  • % Risk (entered)
  • $ Risk (calculated)
  • $ Per Pip (entered)
  • Pips Risk (entered)
  • Lots (calculated)

Here's the formula for the $ Risk row:

$ risk calculator

This is more of a double check to see that the calculation is working correctly and to double check your losses against this risk number.

Here is the lot size calculation:

Lot size calculator

SEE ALSO: The Trading Books That Changed My Life

Spreadsheet Benefits

  • Easy to implement
  • Free

Spreadsheet Downsides

  • Takes time to change settings at the beginning of each test
  • You have to flip back and forth between your Forex Tester screen and the spreadsheet

So if you don't want to spend any money, then the spreadsheet is the way to go. However, if you do a lot of testing and you want the most efficient way of calculating your lot size, then you need to have a Forex Tester script.

Use the Snapdragon Forex Tester Lot Size Calculator Script

Using a spreadsheet to calculate lot size is obviously not instant. So it will slow you down.

But this method gives you an instant calculation.

Once you setup this script, you can simply use hotkeys to enter your trades, which speeds things up considerably. 

I have setup Control + 1 and Control + 2 as my keyboard shortcuts for short and long trades, respectively.

Long Short ScriptsHere is the settings window for one of the scripts:

Forex Tester script settings

The settings can be changed individually, so you can have different settings for both, if you so choose.

Most of the settings are pretty straightforward, but here are the ones that really make this script worth using:

  • Entry Method: You can select Bracket bar (brackets current bar with stop loss and pending entry order) or Use pending order levels (enter a pending order and the script will automatically calculate lot size).
  • Risk Definition: You can either risk fixed percent of equity balance or fixed dollar amount per trade.
  • Take Profit Type: Set the R multiple of your profit target. For example, if you want to test a 5R profit target, the script will target 5 times your risk as the take profit.

Script Benefits

  • Instant lot size calculation and trade execution
  • Different settings available, based on your trading method
  • Less mental calculations means less decision fatigue and you can usually test longer and more accurately

Script Downsides

  • It may not work for all trading strategies, so be sure to learn the details of how it works
  • You do have to pay a few bucks to get it

If you value your time and want the fastest possible lot size calculator available, then this script is for you.

Click here to download it.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the two fastest methods that I know of to calculate the correct lot size on your backtesting trades, based on percent risk. Either way, these solutions will speed up your backtesting and allow you to see results faster than having to manually calculate risk on each trade and possibly making a mistake.

If you don't have Forex Tester yet, I would highly recommend it. I have negotiated a discount for Trading Heroes readers, so you can go to this page to get that discount.

Do you know of any other methods to calculate the exact lot size in Forex Tester, based on percentage risk?

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Some links on this page are affiliate links. We do make a commission if you purchase through these links, but it does not cost you anything extra and we only promote products and services that we wholeheartedly believe in. 

Related Articles

Can Twitter be Used as a Forex Trading Indicator?
Metatrader 5 iPhone Forex Software Review
Free Forex Education and Resources for Beginners

Category: Trading Tools and Resources Tag: Forex Tester Tutorials

About Hugh Kimura

Hi, I'm Hugh. I'm an independent trader, educator and researcher. I help traders develop their trading psychology and trading strategies. Learn more about me here.

Top

 

Share This Article


First posted: April 2, 2018
Last updated: February 21, 2020

Primary Sidebar

Trading Guides

How to Figure Out Your Trader Personality Profile

The Best Trading Books Ever

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Forex Backtesting

How to Create a Precise Trading Plan (with PDF worksheet)

Footer

Company

  • Support
  • About Trading Heroes
  • Trading Courses and Education
  • T-Shirts & Trading Gear

Tutorials & Guides

  • Recommended Trading Resources
  • Free Forex Trading Course for Beginners
  • The Trading Blog
  • Best Trading Books
  • Forex Trading Strategies
  • The Trading Lifestyle Podcast

Community

  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Private Trading Community
  • Contact
Trading involves substantial risk and there is always the potential for loss. All content on this website is for educational and informational purposes only and is not trading, investment, or medical advice. You should be aware of the risks associated with trading and seek advice from an independent certified financial adviser if you have any doubts. Some links on this page might be affiliate links, where we get a small commission if you purchase through the link. It doesn't cost you anything extra and we only recommend products that we absolutely love. This site uses cookies and using this site means that you agree to the use of cookies.

 

CFTC Rules 4.41 - Hypothetical or Simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, because the trades have not actually been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs, in general, are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown. Testimonials appearing may not be representative of other clients or customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007–2022 TrueLiving Media LLC | Terms | Privacy | Risk