How to calculate gold lot size in MT5 (XAUUSD)

Gold lot size is the amount of gold exposure in a trade. The right size depends on the money you are prepared to lose, the distance to your planned exit and your broker’s contract size. There is no single lot size that is safe for every account. This example is for planning a manual trade, not a promise about ATS settings or results.

Check the symbol before doing the maths

In MT5 desktop, open Market Watch, right-click your gold symbol and choose Specification. Read the contract size, minimum volume, volume step, tick size and tick value. Your broker might call gold XAUUSD, GOLD or a name with a suffix.

Some gold accounts use 100 troy ounces per lot, but others use a smaller contract. Never copy a gold calculator result without checking that its contract and account currency match yours. A gold “pip” can also mean different things on different sites; using the actual price distance avoids that confusion.

Work out the amount you can risk

For illustration, a $2,000 account with a chosen risk of 0.5% has a $10 risk budget: $2,000 × 0.005 = $10. This is an example, not a recommended risk level. You can lose more than a planned amount if a market gaps or an order fills at a worse price.

Choose the exit level before choosing the lot size. If your trade needs a wider stop, reduce the size rather than moving the stop closer just to fit a bigger trade.

A worked XAUUSD example

• Assume a USD account and a broker contract of 100 ounces for 1.00 lot.
• Planned entry: $2,400 per ounce. Planned stop: $2,390. The distance is $10 per ounce; these are example prices, not a live quote.
• At 1.00 lot, that price move loses $10 × 100 = $1,000 before charges.
• For a $10 risk budget, $10 ÷ $1,000 = 0.01 lots before charges.
• Formula for this USD-quoted, USD-account example: lots = risk budget ÷ (price distance × ounces per lot).

Why the result is only a starting point

Spread, commission and slippage can add to the loss. Allow for costs before placing a trade. If your account currency is not USD, convert the calculated loss into your account currency using the applicable conversion rate. Tick-value calculations also need to use that account’s actual symbol settings.

Round down to the permitted volume step. If your calculated size is below the broker’s minimum, skip the trade or change the plan; rounding up takes more risk than you chose. Do not assume increasing your account leverage fixes this problem.

Margin is not the same as risk

Margin is the money the broker requires to open the position. Risk is the amount the position could lose. A trade can need little margin and still cause a large loss. Check available margin and the broker’s stop-out rules separately, then test your calculation in a demo account.