Risk warning: spread bets are leveraged products — most retail accounts lose money.
TOOLS

Position-size calculator

Loss first, stake second. Decide what this trade is allowed to cost you, set the stop where the idea is wrong, and let those two numbers choose the stake — not confidence.

TOOL · POSITION SIZEStake from risk, not hope
Account size (£)
Risk per trade (%)
Stop distance (points)
Market level (points)
Margin factor
YOUR MAXIMUM STAKE £1 / pt £40 at risk if your stop is hit — 2% of the account.
Notional exposure at that stake£10,650
Margin required (deposit)£532.50
Margin as share of account27%
HOW TO READ THIS The stake is the output, never the input.

Decide what you're willing to lose on one idea — most professionals use 1–2% of the account — and where the trade is wrong (your stop). The stake follows: risk ÷ stop distance = £/pt. Beginners do it backwards: pick a stake that feels exciting, then discover the risk. At 2% you can be wrong twenty-five times in a row and still have three-quarters of your account.

If the answer is under £1/pt, your stop is too wide or the trade is too big for the account. The calculator isn't wrong — the trade is. The stake is rounded down, never up: your risk budget is a ceiling, and only a guaranteed stop caps it exactly.

The margin figure shows what the provider will hold; if it's a large share of the account, the position is big even when the planned risk looks small. The margin & P/L calculator shows the same trade from the exposure side, and risk management (chapter 11) covers where stops belong: at the level that proves you wrong, never at a round number of pounds.