[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1078},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-lot-in-forex":3,"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-lot-in-forex-related":234},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":218,"date":219,"description":220,"draft":221,"extension":222,"meta":223,"navigation":221,"path":224,"related":225,"seo":230,"stem":231,"term":232,"updated":219,"__hash__":233},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-lot-in-forex.md","What Is a Lot in Forex? Standard, Mini and Micro",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":210},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,32,35,41,50,54,57,65,83,87,102,121,125,147,162,169,177,181,203],[10,11,12],"p",{},"A lot is the unit in which trade size is measured. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency of the pair, a mini lot is 10,000 and a micro lot is 1,000, so a position of 0.10 lots on EUR\u002FUSD controls 10,000 euro. Every volume figure on a track record — and almost every cost a broker charges — is denominated in lots.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"how-it-works","How it works",[10,19,20],{},"The lot is a multiplier applied to a contract size that the broker defines per symbol.",[22,23,28],"pre",{"className":24,"code":26,"language":27},[25],"language-text","Units traded = Lots × Contract size\n\nStandard lot   1.00  = 100,000 units\nMini lot       0.10  =  10,000 units\nMicro lot      0.01  =   1,000 units\n","text",[29,30,26],"code",{"__ignoreMap":31},"",[10,33,34],{},"Contract size is what converts a price movement into money. One pip is 0.0001 on a five-digit forex pair and 0.01 on a yen pair, so the value of a pip follows directly:",[22,36,39],{"className":37,"code":38,"language":27},[25],"Pip value = Lots × Contract size × pip size, converted into account currency\n          = 1.00 × 100,000 × 0.0001 = $10 per pip on EUR\u002FUSD\n",[29,40,38],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,42,43,44,49],{},"The 100,000 figure is a forex convention, not a rule. Gold, indices, energies and crypto CFDs each carry their own contract size, set by the broker and visible in the symbol specification, so \"one lot\" on XAUUSD is not \"one lot\" on EUR\u002FUSD. On a ",[45,46,48],"a",{"href":47},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-cent-account","cent account"," the account currency is scaled instead, which shrinks the effective size of the same nominal lot again.",[14,51,53],{"id":52},"why-it-matters","Why it matters",[10,55,56],{},"Lots are the unit brokers bill in. Commission is quoted per lot, per side or round turn. Swap is quoted per lot, per night. Spread cost is the spread in pips multiplied by the pip value, which is itself a function of contract size. Nothing in that list scales with the number of trades — it all scales with volume.",[10,58,59,60,64],{},"That makes total volume the denominator that makes two accounts comparable: cost in dollars says nothing on its own, because a large account trading big size should pay more. Cost per lot divides the account size out, and it is the only form in which ",[45,61,63],{"href":62},"\u002Fguides\u002Fbroker-cost-audit","one broker's charges can be held against another's",".",[10,66,67,68,72,73,77,78,82],{},"Volume is also the one number a trader chooses outright. ",[45,69,71],{"href":70},"\u002Fguides\u002Fwin-rate-is-not-an-edge","Win rate",", drawdown and ",[45,74,76],{"href":75},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-profit-factor","profit factor"," are outcomes; lot size is an instruction, given before the market has any say, which is why a volume column read on its own reveals ",[45,79,81],{"href":80},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-position-sizing","position sizing"," discipline faster than any performance metric.",[14,84,86],{"id":85},"what-the-data-shows","What the data shows",[10,88,89,90,94,95,98,99,64],{},"The figures below describe accounts published on ShowMyTrades, not traders in general. The public accounts here have traded ",[91,92,93],"strong",{},"1,724,575 lots"," (August 2026) — roughly ",[91,96,97],{},"770 lots per published account with history"," — across ",[91,100,101],{},"703 distinct broker servers",[10,103,104,105,108,109,116,117,120],{},"The cost side of that volume comes to ",[91,106,107],{},"$4,782,670 in commissions"," and ",[91,110,111,112],{},"$862,547 in ",[45,113,115],{"href":114},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex","swap"," on the trades synchronised here, with ",[91,118,119],{},"86.3% of accounts that pay any swap net negative on it",". Resist dividing one by the other for a headline rate: the totals cover different populations, and the mix underneath contains symbols with unequal contract sizes, brokers quoting per side against round turn, and spread-only accounts paying no commission at all. Cost per lot is the right comparison — it is simply one to run on a single account, where both numbers come from the same trades.",[14,122,124],{"id":123},"where-you-see-it-on-showmytrades","Where you see it on ShowMyTrades",[10,126,127,130,131,135,136,139,140,108,143,146],{},[91,128,129],{},"Total Lots"," sits in the ",[132,133,134],"em",{},"Trades"," column of ",[91,137,138],{},"Advanced Statistics",", shown to two decimals, directly above ",[91,141,142],{},"Total Commissions",[91,144,145],{},"Total Swap Paid",". All three are sums over the account's closed buy and sell trades, calculated on our servers, with deposits and withdrawals excluded. Both cost rows keep the sign the broker recorded, so commission normally reads as a negative number and swap turns red when the account paid more than it earned. Reading the three rows together gives the cost-per-lot arithmetic above for one account, on real broker records rather than a published price list.",[10,148,149,150,153,154,157,158,161],{},"Per trade, the ",[91,151,152],{},"Volume"," column in ",[91,155,156],{},"Trade History & Balance Progression"," carries the size of every ticket, to two decimals. Account owners can remove it from public pages and widgets with the ",[91,159,160],{},"Lots"," toggle in the account's privacy settings, so a public account page without a volume column is a deliberate choice rather than missing data.",[10,163,164,165,168],{},"The ",[91,166,167],{},"Duration"," view in the same Advanced Statistics panel encodes volume as bubble size — over the most recent 200 closed trades — which is where an escalating lot progression becomes visible as growing circles rather than a column of numbers.",[10,170,171,172,176],{},"To size a position before placing it, the ",[45,173,175],{"href":174},"\u002Ftools\u002Fposition-size-calculator","position size calculator"," takes account balance, risk and stop distance and returns the lot size, with the contract size selectable as Micro Lot (1,000), Mini Lot (10,000) or Standard Lot (100,000).",[14,178,180],{"id":179},"common-misunderstandings","Common misunderstandings",[182,183,184,191,197],"ul",{},[185,186,187,190],"li",{},[91,188,189],{},"\"0.01 lots is a small position.\""," Relative to what. A micro lot on EUR\u002FUSD risks about $0.10 per pip; on a $200 account with a 50-pip stop that is 2.5% of equity.",[185,192,193,196],{},[91,194,195],{},"\"Total Lots shows the size I trade.\""," It is a sum. The same total can come from ten thousand micro trades or one hundred standard ones — the trade table is where the distribution lives.",[185,198,199,202],{},[91,200,201],{},"\"More volume means a better trader.\""," Volume measures activity and cost. It carries no information about whether any of it was profitable.",[10,204,205,206,64],{},"For reading a volume column as a risk fingerprint, see the ",[45,207,209],{"href":208},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftrading-volume-analysis","trading volume analysis guide",{"title":31,"searchDepth":211,"depth":211,"links":212},2,[213,214,215,216,217],{"id":16,"depth":211,"text":17},{"id":52,"depth":211,"text":53},{"id":85,"depth":211,"text":86},{"id":123,"depth":211,"text":124},{"id":179,"depth":211,"text":180},"Costs","2026-08-19T00:00:00.000Z","A lot is the unit trade size is measured in: 100,000 units of base currency for one standard lot. The contract size arithmetic, and 1.7 million real lots.",true,"md",{},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-lot-in-forex",[226,227,228,229],"what-is-position-sizing","what-is-a-spread","what-is-a-swap-in-forex","what-is-average-trade-length",{"title":5,"description":220},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-lot-in-forex","Lot","JciCfYjJ3q1fyMdS6We0M0PVmIiJgVcO0mug9Dlj2AE",[235,455,667,870],{"id":236,"title":237,"body":238,"category":218,"date":219,"description":443,"draft":444,"extension":222,"meta":445,"navigation":221,"path":446,"related":447,"seo":451,"stem":452,"term":453,"updated":219,"__hash__":454},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread.md","What Is a Spread in Forex? Definition and Real Costs",{"type":7,"value":239,"toc":436},[240,243,245,248,254,262,273,289,291,299,302,304,310,317,322,328,334,336,392,394,429],[10,241,242],{},"A spread is the difference between the bid price, at which you can sell, and the ask price, at which you can buy. It is what the broker charges for filling your order, and you pay it on every trade whether that trade wins or loses. On most retail accounts it is the largest single cost of trading and the only one that never appears as a line item on the statement.",[14,244,17],{"id":16},[10,246,247],{},"If EUR\u002FUSD is quoted 1.08432 \u002F 1.08442, the spread is 1.0 pip. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, so the position opens showing a loss equal to the spread. The trade has to cover that distance before it is flat.",[22,249,252],{"className":250,"code":251,"language":27},[25],"Spread (pips)   = (Ask − Bid) \u002F Pip size\nCost per trade  = Spread (pips) × Pip value × Lots\n",[29,253,251],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,255,256,257,261],{},"On a standard lot of EUR\u002FUSD the ",[45,258,260],{"href":259},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-pip","pip value"," is $10, so a 1.0 pip spread costs $10 per lot, charged once on the round turn.",[10,263,264,265,268,269,272],{},"There are two ways brokers price it. ",[91,266,267],{},"Spread-only"," accounts widen the quote and charge nothing else — the cost is buried in your fill price. ",[91,270,271],{},"Raw spread plus commission"," accounts quote close to the interbank price and bill the difference separately. The total can be identical; only the second model makes the cost visible.",[10,274,275,276,279,280,283,284,288],{},"Spreads are either ",[91,277,278],{},"fixed"," (constant, usually wider, quoted by a dealing desk) or ",[91,281,282],{},"variable"," (tracking real liquidity). Variable spreads sit near zero on majors during the London–New York overlap and widen sharply at economic releases, in the thin hour around the daily rollover, and at the Sunday open. The widening happens precisely when your ",[45,285,287],{"href":286},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-stop-loss","stop loss"," is most likely to be hit.",[14,290,53],{"id":52},[10,292,293,294,298],{},"Spread scales with turnover, not with skill. A system targeting 5 pips per trade gives away ",[45,295,297],{"href":296},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-cost-percentage","20% of its gross edge"," to a 1-pip spread; a system targeting 200 pips gives away 0.5%. That single ratio decides whether a strategy survives at one broker and dies at another while the logic stays identical.",[10,300,301],{},"It also compounds invisibly. The median account published on ShowMyTrades closes 171 trades. One extra pip of spread across 171 standard lots is $1,710 — money that never shows anywhere except as a slightly worse equity curve.",[14,303,86],{"id":85},[10,305,306,307,309],{},"Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), traders have paid ",[91,308,107],{},". That is only the visible half of execution cost: the spread portion cannot be totalled the same way, because it is priced into the fill rather than charged as a separate line.",[10,311,312],{},[313,314],"img",{"alt":315,"src":316},"The three broker cost lines: spread charged on every entry and exit and invisible in the P&L column, commission printed per trade, swap charged for time held — $4,782,670 in commissions and $862,547 in swap across public ShowMyTrades accounts","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fwhere-costs-hide.svg",[10,318,319],{},[132,320,321],{},"Only one of the three arrives with a number attached to it.",[10,323,324,325,327],{},"The scale of that hidden half is easy to bound. Those accounts have traded ",[91,326,93],{},". On a $10-per-pip instrument, a difference of just 0.2 pips in average spread across that volume is roughly $3.4 million — more than two thirds of all commissions ever recorded on the platform.",[10,329,330,331,333],{},"And the conditions genuinely differ: those accounts connect through ",[91,332,101],{},", and 429 users run accounts at more than one broker precisely to compare them.",[14,335,124],{"id":123},[182,337,338,356,366,386],{},[185,339,340,342,343,345,346,108,348,351,352,355],{},[91,341,138],{}," shows ",[91,344,142],{},", ",[91,347,129],{},[91,349,350],{},"Total Pips",". Divide the first by the second and you have ",[45,353,354],{"href":62},"that account's real commission per lot"," — a number brokers rarely publish in a comparable form.",[185,357,358,359,361,362,64],{},"The most useful check is ",[91,360,350],{}," against net profit. When an account is positive in pips but flat or negative in money, execution cost is consuming the edge. ",[45,363,365],{"href":364},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftrading-cost-percentage","That gap is the spread and commission bill",[185,367,164,368,371,372,374,375,378,379,108,382,385],{},[91,369,370],{},"Closed Trades"," table under ",[91,373,156],{}," carries a ",[91,376,377],{},"Commission"," column per ticket, alongside ",[91,380,381],{},"Open Price",[91,383,384],{},"Close Price",", so you can see what an individual fill actually cost.",[185,387,164,388,391],{},[91,389,390],{},"account header"," carries the broker badge, with the trade server name in its tooltip, next to the account currency and leverage. That is what makes two accounts running the same strategy comparable at all.",[14,393,180],{"id":179},[395,396,397,403,409,415],"ol",{},[185,398,399,402],{},[91,400,401],{},"\"Zero spread\" does not mean free."," Zero- or raw-spread accounts move the cost into commission. Compare the total, not the headline.",[185,404,405,408],{},[91,406,407],{},"The advertised spread is a best case."," Brokers quote typical or minimum spreads measured in liquid hours. Your fills during a rate decision are a different number.",[185,410,411,414],{},[91,412,413],{},"Spread is not on the statement, so people assume they are not paying it."," It is deducted at entry, before the trade exists as a row.",[185,416,417,420,421,108,424,428],{},[91,418,419],{},"Spread alone does not rank a broker."," ",[45,422,423],{"href":114},"Swap",[45,425,427],{"href":426},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-slippage","slippage"," belong in the same comparison, and a tight spread with poor execution is the more expensive deal.",[10,430,431,432,64],{},"To put real numbers on your own instrument and lot size, see the ",[45,433,435],{"href":434},"\u002Fguides\u002Fforex-calculators-guide","guide to forex calculators",{"title":31,"searchDepth":211,"depth":211,"links":437},[438,439,440,441,442],{"id":16,"depth":211,"text":17},{"id":52,"depth":211,"text":53},{"id":85,"depth":211,"text":86},{"id":123,"depth":211,"text":124},{"id":179,"depth":211,"text":180},"A spread is the gap between the bid and ask price, the cost you pay to enter a trade. Here is how it works, what it costs per lot, and why brokers differ.",false,{},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread",[228,448,449,450],"what-is-slippage","what-is-a-regulated-broker","what-is-a-profit-factor",{"title":237,"description":443},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread","Spread","_HiS3N0q5xG6kWJPv01Kjk02mu226hR7wa-SzSCJ0_U",{"id":456,"title":457,"body":458,"category":218,"date":219,"description":659,"draft":221,"extension":222,"meta":660,"navigation":221,"path":114,"related":661,"seo":664,"stem":665,"term":423,"updated":219,"__hash__":666},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex.md","What Is a Swap in Forex? Overnight Costs Explained",{"type":7,"value":459,"toc":652},[460,463,465,473,479,490,496,507,509,517,520,522,533,539,544,559,561,608,610,641],[10,461,462],{},"A swap, also called rollover or overnight financing, is the interest debited from or credited to your account for holding a position past the broker's daily rollover time. It exists because every forex trade borrows one currency to buy another, so you pay the interest rate on the one you are short and earn it on the one you are long. Hold a position for an afternoon and swap is irrelevant; hold it for three months and it can outweigh the trade.",[14,464,17],{"id":16},[10,466,467,468,472],{},"The raw driver is the difference between the ",[45,469,471],{"href":470},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-are-interest-rates","interest rates"," of the two currencies in the pair, adjusted by the broker's own markup, then divided across the year and applied to your position size.",[22,474,477],{"className":475,"code":476,"language":27},[25],"Nightly swap ≈ Position size × (Rate differential − Broker markup) \u002F 365\n",[29,478,476],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,480,481,482,485,486,489],{},"In practice brokers do not publish it as a rate. They publish a ",[91,483,484],{},"swap long"," and a ",[91,487,488],{},"swap short"," figure per lot, in points or in account currency, in the contract specification for each symbol. You are charged whichever side you hold, once per night, at rollover — typically 21:00 or 22:00 UTC depending on the broker's server time.",[10,491,492,495],{},[91,493,494],{},"Triple swap Wednesday"," is not a penalty. Spot FX settles two business days forward, so a position held through Wednesday night settles on Monday and carries three days of financing, charged in one go. Some brokers apply the triple charge on Friday instead for metals, indices and CFDs, which is why the day matters and the rule is not universal.",[10,497,498,501,502,506],{},[91,499,500],{},"Positive carry"," is real but narrow. Being long the higher-yielding currency can earn swap rather than pay it, which is the mechanism behind ",[45,503,505],{"href":504},"\u002Fguides\u002Fswap-and-carry-trade","carry trades",". The broker's markup is applied to both sides, so on many pairs both directions are negative, and the pair where carry is genuinely positive is usually the pair where the currency is falling.",[14,508,53],{"id":52},[10,510,511,512,516],{},"Swap is the cost that punishes holding, and specifically punishes holding losers. A grid or martingale system that refuses to close underwater positions pays financing on those positions every single night for as long as it holds them, so the cost grows in step with the mistake. The ",[45,513,515],{"href":514},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-equity-curve","equity curve"," looks flat while the account bleeds.",[10,518,519],{},"It also changes what a strategy is. A system with a positive edge over two days can be net negative over two weeks purely on financing, without a single new losing trade.",[14,521,86],{"id":85},[10,523,524,525,528,529,532],{},"Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), ",[91,526,527],{},"$862,547"," has been paid in swap. Of the accounts with any swap activity at all, ",[91,530,531],{},"86.3% pay net negative swap"," — earning carry is the exception, not a plan.",[10,534,535],{},[313,536],{"alt":537,"src":538},"An account falling every night while the price stays unchanged, Wednesday charged triple: 86.3% of ShowMyTrades accounts carrying swap pay it rather than earn it","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fswap-bleed.svg",[10,540,541],{},[132,542,543],{},"Financing accrues on time held, not on trades taken — the chart can stay flat while the balance sinks.",[10,545,546,547,550,551,554,555,558],{},"What makes that total striking is how short the typical holding period is. The median trade on those accounts lasts ",[91,548,549],{},"2.4 hours",", and the median account has ",[91,552,553],{},"171 closed trades",". Most accounts here barely touch rollover, and swap still amounts to roughly 18% of the ",[91,556,557],{},"$4,782,670"," paid in commissions, which suggests the bill is concentrated on the minority of accounts that hold.",[14,560,124],{"id":123},[182,562,563,573,589,599],{},[185,564,565,130,567,569,570,572],{},[91,566,145],{},[91,568,138],{}," panel, next to ",[91,571,142],{},". It is coloured red when the account is net negative on financing and green when it is net positive, so the direction is readable at a glance.",[185,574,164,575,371,577,579,580,378,582,584,585,588],{},[91,576,370],{},[91,578,156],{}," has a ",[91,581,423],{},[91,583,377],{},". Note that the profit column is labelled ",[91,586,587],{},"Profit (Gross)"," — the financing is shown separately, not folded in.",[185,590,591,594,595,598],{},[91,592,593],{},"Custom Analysis"," carries a toggle, ",[132,596,597],{},"Include swaps in profit calculations",". Switch it on and off and the difference in the resulting statistics is exactly what the broker's financing did to the record.",[185,600,601,607],{},[45,602,604],{"href":603},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-average-trade-length",[91,605,606],{},"Avg. Trade Length"," in Advanced Statistics tells you whether swap should matter for that account before you even look at the figure. A two-hour average and a large swap bill do not belong together.",[14,609,180],{"id":179},[395,611,612,618,624,635],{},[185,613,614,617],{},[91,615,616],{},"Swap is not a service fee."," It is financing, and it can be paid to you. The broker's markup is the fee, and it is applied in both directions.",[185,619,620,623],{},[91,621,622],{},"Triple swap is a settlement convention, not a charge for trading on Wednesday."," Closing before rollover avoids it entirely.",[185,625,626,629,630,634],{},[91,627,628],{},"Carry is not free money."," The interest differential is small relative to the currency move that typically erases it, and ",[45,631,633],{"href":632},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-leverage","leverage"," magnifies the move far more than the carry.",[185,636,637,640],{},[91,638,639],{},"A flat chart is not a costless month."," Financing on open positions accrues whether or not any trade closes.",[10,642,643,644,647,648,64],{},"For how swap fits alongside ",[45,645,646],{"href":446},"spread"," and the rest of the metrics on a public account, read the ",[45,649,651],{"href":650},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftracking-trading-performance","guide to tracking trading performance",{"title":31,"searchDepth":211,"depth":211,"links":653},[654,655,656,657,658],{"id":16,"depth":211,"text":17},{"id":52,"depth":211,"text":53},{"id":85,"depth":211,"text":86},{"id":123,"depth":211,"text":124},{"id":179,"depth":211,"text":180},"A swap is the interest charged or paid for holding a forex position overnight. How it is calculated, why Wednesday is triple, and what thousands of accounts pay.",{},[227,662,663,448],"what-are-interest-rates","what-is-leverage",{"title":457,"description":659},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex","yHH22IHFSk2H-v9OC6elWwuiadT_ry9LGlqsLULYmM8",{"id":668,"title":669,"body":670,"category":860,"date":219,"description":861,"draft":221,"extension":222,"meta":862,"navigation":221,"path":603,"related":863,"seo":867,"stem":868,"term":606,"updated":219,"__hash__":869},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-average-trade-length.md","What Is Average Trade Length? Formula and Real Data",{"type":7,"value":671,"toc":853},[672,675,677,680,686,689,696,703,706,708,711,724,735,737,746,757,767,769,779,800,824,826,846],[10,673,674],{},"Average trade length is the mean time a position stayed open, measured from the moment it was opened to the moment it was closed, across every closed trade on the account. It describes the holding period a strategy actually used, as recorded by the broker, rather than the one it was designed around. It is the fastest single check on whether a described strategy and a published track record are the same thing.",[14,676,17],{"id":16},[10,678,679],{},"Every closed trade carries an open time and a close time. The metric is the arithmetic mean of the gaps, calculated on our servers from the account's trade log and sent to the page ready to display.",[22,681,684],{"className":682,"code":683,"language":27},[25],"Avg. trade length = Σ (close time − open time) \u002F closed trades carrying both timestamps\n",[29,685,683],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,687,688],{},"Three properties of that formula decide how to read it.",[10,690,691,692,695],{},"It is a ",[91,693,694],{},"mean, not a median",". One position left open for three months sits in the same average as four hundred trades that lasted ninety seconds, and moves the result far more than any of them. A short average is therefore strong evidence of short trades; a long one can come from a handful of outliers.",[10,697,698,699,702],{},"It counts ",[91,700,701],{},"closed trades only",", and only buy and sell orders — deposits, withdrawals and cancelled pending orders are excluded. A floating loser held open for a year contributes nothing until the day it is finally closed, at which point the average jumps.",[10,704,705],{},"Positions are counted separately, not merged. A grid running twenty concurrent orders logs twenty durations, so the figure answers \"how long was a trade open\", not \"how long was the account exposed\".",[14,707,53],{"id":52},[10,709,710],{},"Holding period is the one structural fact about a strategy that a trade log cannot hide. A track record described as swing trading, with a four-minute average, is not swing trading, whatever the description says. Neither reading is better than the other; the mismatch is the finding.",[10,712,713,714,717,718,720,721,723],{},"It also decides ",[45,715,716],{"href":296},"which costs dominate",". ",[45,719,453],{"href":446}," and commission are paid once per trade, so they weigh heaviest on the shortest holds. ",[45,722,423],{"href":114}," accrues per night and only touches positions carried through the rollover. Two systems with identical gross results and different holding periods pay for entirely different things.",[10,725,726,727,731,732,734],{},"And it sets ",[45,728,730],{"href":729},"\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-much-history-a-track-record-needs","how much a track record can prove per unit of time",". An account averaging two hours produces evidence quickly; one averaging three weeks needs years to reach the same number of independent outcomes, which is why holding period and ",[45,733,76],{"href":75}," have to be read together.",[14,736,86],{"id":85},[10,738,739,740,743,744,64],{},"The figures below describe accounts published on ShowMyTrades, not traders in general. Across the published accounts with trading history (August 2026), the ",[91,741,742],{},"median trade lasts 2.4 hours"," and the median account holds ",[91,745,553],{},[10,747,748,749,752,753,756],{},"That is an intraday population. The median account opens and closes inside the same session, so most of its positions never reach a rollover — yet the same records carry ",[91,750,751],{},"$862,547 in swap",", and ",[91,754,755],{},"86.3% of accounts with any swap pay net negative swap",". The overnight cost is concentrated in the minority of accounts that carry positions, and for them it is a real line item rather than a rounding error.",[10,758,759,760,108,763,766],{},"The automation figures explain the short median. The ",[91,761,762],{},"median autotrading share is 99%",[91,764,765],{},"53.9% of accounts are more than 90% automated",". Programs close positions when a rule fires, not at the end of the working day.",[14,768,124],{"id":123},[10,770,771,773,774,153,776,778],{},[91,772,606],{}," is the last row of the ",[132,775,134],{},[91,777,138],{},", in the Table view, on the owner's dashboard and on the public account page alike. It adapts its unit: minutes below an hour, one decimal of hours below a day, then days and hours above that.",[10,780,781,782,784,785,788,789,108,792,795,796,799],{},"The same panel turns holding time into a distribution. The ",[91,783,167],{}," button, fourth in the Table \u002F Weekday \u002F Hourly \u002F Duration switch, opens a scatter plot titled ",[132,786,787],{},"Trade Duration vs Profitability",": hours held on the horizontal axis, profit or loss on the vertical, bubbles sized by volume in lots and split into ",[132,790,791],{},"Winning Trades",[132,793,794],{},"Losing Trades",". One limit worth knowing: it plots the ",[91,797,798],{},"most recent 200 closed trades",", not the whole history, so it reads current behaviour rather than a lifetime. Every result on it is net of commission and swap. Hovering gives the ticket, symbol, volume, duration, P\u002FL and the open and close times to the minute.",[10,801,149,802,804,805,807,808,345,811,345,814,345,817,820,821,64],{},[91,803,156],{}," table carries an optional ",[91,806,167],{}," column — closed trades only, off by default, switched on from the column menu — formatted as ",[29,809,810],{},"2d 5h",[29,812,813],{},"3h 14m",[29,815,816],{},"12m",[29,818,819],{},"4m 20s"," or ",[29,822,823],{},"42s",[14,825,180],{"id":179},[182,827,828,834,840],{},[185,829,830,833],{},[91,831,832],{},"\"The average is the typical trade.\""," It is a mean, and holding times have a long right tail. Check the Duration scatter before assuming the average describes any real trade.",[185,835,836,839],{},[91,837,838],{},"\"A short average proves scalping.\""," It can also come from a system that closes winners in minutes and holds losers for weeks — the average shortens while the risk lengthens.",[185,841,842,845],{},[91,843,844],{},"\"Open trades count.\""," They do not, until they close. A long-running floating position is invisible here by construction.",[10,847,848,849,64],{},"For how holding period reads alongside every other number on an account page, see ",[45,850,852],{"href":851},"\u002Fguides\u002Freading-a-trading-account-dashboard","how to read a trading account dashboard",{"title":31,"searchDepth":211,"depth":211,"links":854},[855,856,857,858,859],{"id":16,"depth":211,"text":17},{"id":52,"depth":211,"text":53},{"id":85,"depth":211,"text":86},{"id":123,"depth":211,"text":124},{"id":179,"depth":211,"text":180},"Metrics","Average trade length is the mean time a closed position stayed open. The formula, why it is a mean rather than a typical trade, and what thousands of accounts show.",{},[864,450,865,866],"what-is-expectancy","what-is-a-lot-in-forex","what-is-terminal-ping",{"title":669,"description":861},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-average-trade-length","9YnXyNSu-z6VH6wi48WXe0RefoTtl4UCdlKjuXMrfUQ",{"id":871,"title":872,"body":873,"category":1067,"date":219,"description":1068,"draft":444,"extension":222,"meta":1069,"navigation":221,"path":80,"related":1070,"seo":1074,"stem":1075,"term":1076,"updated":219,"__hash__":1077},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-position-sizing.md","What Is Position Sizing? Formula and Lot Size Calculation",{"type":7,"value":874,"toc":1060},[875,883,885,888,894,897,903,910,913,933,939,944,946,949,955,957,973,976,990,992,997,1021,1023,1054],[10,876,877,878,882],{},"Position sizing is the decision of how large a trade to open, derived from how much of the account you are willing to lose if the trade fails. It converts a risk percentage into a lot size using two inputs: the distance to your stop and the value of one pip at that size. It is the single variable that determines an account's ",[45,879,881],{"href":880},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown","drawdown"," profile, and it is chosen before the trade rather than discovered after it.",[14,884,17],{"id":16},[10,886,887],{},"Three steps, in order.",[22,889,892],{"className":890,"code":891,"language":27},[25],"1. Risk amount   = Account balance × Risk %\n2. Pip value     = Contract size × Pip in quote currency × FX rate to account currency\n3. Position size = Risk amount \u002F (Stop distance in pips × Pip value per lot)\n",[29,893,891],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,895,896],{},"A worked example on a $10,000 account risking 1% per trade, with a 50-pip stop on EUR\u002FUSD, where one standard lot moves $10 per pip:",[22,898,901],{"className":899,"code":900,"language":27},[25],"Risk amount   = 10,000 × 0.01      = $100\nPosition size = 100 \u002F (50 × 10)    = 0.20 lots\n",[29,902,900],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,904,905,906,909],{},"Widen the stop to 100 pips and the same $100 of risk buys 0.10 lots. The risk stays constant; the size adapts. That inversion is the whole idea, and it is why sizing and ",[45,907,908],{"href":286},"stop-loss"," placement cannot be decided separately.",[10,911,912],{},"Three methods dominate in practice:",[182,914,915,921,927],{},[185,916,917,920],{},[91,918,919],{},"Fixed lot."," Always 0.10 lots, whatever the stop or the balance. Simple, and the risk per trade drifts constantly as both change.",[185,922,923,926],{},[91,924,925],{},"Percentage risk (fixed fractional)."," The formula above. Risk stays proportional, so losses shrink in currency terms as the account falls — the mechanism that makes recovery arithmetically possible.",[185,928,929,932],{},[91,930,931],{},"Martingale progression."," Size increases after a loss to recover it. Wins are frequent and small, the equity curve looks immaculate, and the distribution of outcomes has a fat left tail that arrives all at once.",[10,934,935],{},[313,936],{"alt":937,"src":938},"Doubling the lot size after every loss against a fixed fraction of equity: same win rate, same market, opposite outcomes","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Flot-progression.svg",[10,940,941],{},[132,942,943],{},"Which one an account uses is readable from the lot sizes alone.",[14,945,53],{"id":52},[10,947,948],{},"Entries decide whether you win. Sizing decides whether you are still there for the next one. Two traders taking identical signals with identical stops produce identical win rates and completely different accounts, because one risked 0.5% and the other risked 8%.",[10,950,951,952,954],{},"Sizing is also where ",[45,953,633],{"href":632}," does its actual damage. High leverage is not itself risk — it is permission to take risk. The risk arrives when that permission is used to open a size whose stop distance implies a loss the account cannot absorb twice in a row.",[14,956,86],{"id":85},[10,958,959,960,963,964,968,969,972],{},"Sizing leaves its signature in the drawdown tail. Across the accounts published on ShowMyTrades that have trading history (August 2026) — accounts published here, not traders in general — ",[91,961,962],{},"38.2%"," have been ",[45,965,967],{"href":966},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-maximum-drawdown","more than 20% underwater"," at some point and ",[91,970,971],{},"17.6%"," have lost more than half their peak value.",[10,974,975],{},"A properly sized fixed-fractional account rarely reaches that last band. Losing 50% at 1% risk per trade requires roughly 69 consecutive losses. Accounts in that tail generally arrived another way: escalating size after losses, or a size chosen without reference to the stop at all.",[10,977,978,979,752,982,985,986,989],{},"Context for who is doing the sizing: the median autotrading share on these accounts is ",[91,980,981],{},"99%",[91,983,984],{},"53.9%"," run above 90% automated, against ",[91,987,988],{},"42.2%"," under 10%. On more than half of the published set, position size is a line in an EA's settings — configured once and never revisited as the balance moves.",[14,991,124],{"id":123},[10,993,164,994,996],{},[45,995,175],{"href":174}," runs the formula above with live prices, in your account currency, for percentage or fixed-amount risk and for stops expressed in price or pips.",[10,998,999,1000,374,1003,1005,1006,1008,1009,1012,1013,1017,1018,1020],{},"On a published account page you can audit sizing rather than assume it. The ",[91,1001,1002],{},"trades table",[91,1004,152],{}," column showing the lot size of every individual trade, so a size that steps up after each loser is visible directly. ",[91,1007,593],{}," adds a ",[91,1010,1011],{},"Lot Size"," min\u002Fmax filter: set a floor above the account's normal size and see whether the surviving trades cluster immediately after losses, which is the martingale signature. ",[91,1014,1015],{},[45,1016,129],{"href":208}," in the ",[91,1019,138],{}," module gives the aggregate; across published accounts it stands at 1,724,575 lots traded.",[14,1022,180],{"id":179},[182,1024,1025,1031,1042,1048],{},[185,1026,1027,1030],{},[91,1028,1029],{},"\"Risking 2% means using 2% of my account.\""," No. 2% is the loss if the stop is hit. The margin the position occupies is a separate figure entirely, set by leverage.",[185,1032,1033,1036,1037,1041],{},[91,1034,1035],{},"\"I risk 1% per trade, so my worst case is 1%.\""," Only with one position open. ",[45,1038,1040],{"href":1039},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-correlation-risk","Five correlated positions"," at 1% each are one 5% trade wearing a disguise, and correlated pairs move together precisely when it hurts.",[185,1043,1044,1047],{},[91,1045,1046],{},"\"No stop loss, so no risk to calculate.\""," Without a stop, the position size formula has no denominator — the risk is not small, it is undefined, and its true value is the margin call.",[185,1049,1050,1053],{},[91,1051,1052],{},"\"Compounding means scaling up.\""," Fixed-fractional sizing scales both ways. Increasing lots after wins while holding them constant after losses is not compounding; it is a slow ratchet toward a drawdown you never sized for.",[10,1055,1056,1057,64],{},"For the full set of risk and sizing tools and when each one applies, see ",[45,1058,1059],{"href":434},"the forex calculators guide",{"title":31,"searchDepth":211,"depth":211,"links":1061},[1062,1063,1064,1065,1066],{"id":16,"depth":211,"text":17},{"id":52,"depth":211,"text":53},{"id":85,"depth":211,"text":86},{"id":123,"depth":211,"text":124},{"id":179,"depth":211,"text":180},"Risk","Position sizing turns a risk percentage into a lot size using your stop distance and pip value. The formula, the three common methods, and what bad sizing costs.",{},[1071,1072,1073,663],"what-is-drawdown","what-is-maximum-drawdown","what-is-a-stop-loss",{"title":872,"description":1068},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-position-sizing","Position Sizing","qP5mfGAxSuWSiccKuy0i_N8LQtpN2UHwOG-ZOVxOViU",1787415687904]