How the calculators compute

Each calculator runs on the figures the reader enters and fixed reference rates set in the site's code, with no live price feed. Its results are exact arithmetic for the model described below, not a forecast of what a trade will cost: spreads, commissions, swaps and the way a broker fills an order change the real figure. Each model change is dated, and material corrections are listed in the corrections log.

Pip Value Calculator

Gives the value of one pip for a chosen pair, lot size and account currency, the cash at risk for a stop distance, and the lot size that keeps a planned loss within a risk budget.

Instruments and units: Ten currency pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/CAD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY) and five account currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY). One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency; lot sizes run from 0.01 to 10 in steps of 0.01.
Pip size: 0.0001 on every pair except those quoted in yen, where it is 0.01. Pipettes are explained on the page but not used in the arithmetic.
Conversion: Pip value is pip size × units, converted into the account currency at the entry price: the price on screen, pre-filled with a fixed reference rate the reader can replace. A pair that shares neither currency with the account converts through USD at the fixed reference rates, using the price on screen only where the pair is itself one leg of that route.
Rounding: A lot size worked out from a risk budget is rounded down to the 0.01 step, so the planned loss never exceeds the budget, and capped at 10 lots. A lot size typed in is rounded to the nearest 0.01.
Costs: Spread, commission and swap are not included: spread and commission add to the cost of a trade, and swap can be a charge or a credit.
Not modelled: Conversion at the exit price, slippage and gaps past the stop (the stop is assumed to fill at its price), margin tiers, and a margin call or stop-out before the stop is reached. The only margin check is at entry: a risk-sized lot that needs more margin than the whole account is flagged, with the largest lot the account can margin.

Model versions

Version	Date	Change
v1	10 May 2026	Launch: pip value on fixed reference rates, crosses routed through USD, lot sizes 0.01 to 10.
v2	23 May 2026	The margin figure in the lot-sizing block uses the leverage the reader enters, from 1:100, instead of a fixed leverage.
v3	17 October 2026	A risk-sized lot rounds down instead of to the nearest step (the default reads 0.28 lots and a $98.00 planned loss, not 0.29 lots and $101.50); margin and USD-leg conversions use the price on screen.
v4	18 October 2026	The ten reference rates were re-pinned to the ECB euro reference rates of 16 October 2026 and the pairs derived from them (EUR/USD 1.1253).
v5	21 October 2026	The comparison table converts each row whose conversion runs through the selected pair at the price on screen.
v6	21 October 2026	Lot sizing flags a lot the account cannot margin and gives the largest lot it can.

Position Size Calculator

Gives the largest lot size whose loss at the stop, commission included, stays within a loss budget on the broker's volume grid, and checks the margin the position holds and whether the broker's stop-out level comes before the stop.

Instruments and units: The same ten pairs and five account currencies as the Pip Value Calculator. The broker's volume grid is entered as a minimum volume, a volume step and a maximum volume, by default 0.01, 0.01 and 100 lots; leverage takes the account's own value, by default 1:100.
Sizing: The loss per lot at the stop is the pip value of 1 standard lot × the stop distance, plus the round-trip commission per lot. The lot size is the largest volume on the grid whose loss stays within the budget, rounded down to the step, and every figure shown is calculated from that volume. If even the minimum volume loses more than the budget, the calculator says so instead of rounding up.
Conversion: Pip value converts into the account currency as in the Pip Value Calculator. Where the pair's own price is part of the conversion (the account currency is the pair's base currency, or the pair is one leg of the route through USD), the loss can also be converted at the stop price instead of the entry price, with any other rate on the route held at its fixed reference value. Where the conversion uses only other pairs' rates, it uses the fixed reference rates, and how those rates move by the time the trade closes is not modelled.
Margin and stop-out: Margin is the notional ÷ leverage at the entry price. A volume that fits the budget but not the account's margin is reported as failing the margin check, with the largest volume whose margin does not exceed the equity; when the broker's stop-out level comes before the stop, the calculator says the stop is not the exit. The distance to stop-out follows the conversion as the price moves, with margin held at its entry value and the full round-trip commission counted against equity from the open.
Costs: Round-trip commission per lot is included, all of it charged when the trade opens. Spread and swap are not: spread adds to the cost of a trade, and swap can be a charge or a credit.
Not modelled: A stop filling beyond its price, shown only as an illustration of a set number of pips past the stop; margin revalued as the price moves; margin tiers; and other pairs' rates moving by the time the trade closes.

Model versions

Version	Date	Change
v1	24 October 2026	Launch: sizing to a loss budget on the broker's volume grid with commission, entry or stop-price conversion where the pair's own price converts the loss, margin and stop-out checks, a worse-fill illustration and a volume check.

Margin Calculator

Gives the margin a position holds, the free margin left, effective leverage, and how far price can move against the position before the account reaches the broker's margin-call and stop-out levels.

Instruments and units: The same ten pairs and five account currencies as the Pip Value Calculator; lot sizes from 0.01 to 100. Margin-call and stop-out levels are entered as percentages of margin held, by default 100% and 50%; brokers set their own.
Margin: Notional (lots × 100,000 units, converted into the account currency) ÷ leverage. A pair that shares neither currency with the account converts at a cross rate the reader can enter, typed as the market quotes it; without one it converts through USD at the fixed reference rates, using the price on screen where the pair is itself one leg of that route.
Distance to stop-out: Margin is held at its entry value and the cross rate is held constant while the pair moves. For a single trade the distance is linear in pips, except where the account currency is the pair's base currency, where the exact distance for a long position is used; a short's distance is longer. In book mode the distance is linear: longs and shorts on the same pair are netted, every pair with net exposure is assumed to move the same number of pips against the account, and margin stays gross, summed across positions.
Costs: Spread, commission and swap are not included; free margin is shown before the spread is paid, and swap can be a charge or a credit.
Not modelled: Margin revalued as the price moves, conversion at the bid or ask by trade direction, margin tiers on larger positions, a broker's reduced margin on hedged positions, a partial close at stop-out, and correlation between different pairs.

Model versions

Version	Date	Change
v1	12 May 2026	The calculator page was a placeholder at launch; the interactive calculator shipped with margin as notional ÷ leverage on fixed reference rates, linear distances to margin call and stop-out, and a book mode for up to five positions.
v2	14 May 2026	Added the one-day gauge and an editable cross rate for pairs that share neither currency with the account.
v3	2 June 2026	Leverage presets start at 1:100; the lower presets were removed.
v4	17 October 2026	The exact stop-out distance replaced the linear one where the account currency is the base currency (for example USD/JPY at 150.00 on a $10,000 USD account, 1 lot at 1:100: 1,301 pips, not 1,425); the recovery count risks 1% of the current balance per trade; the EUR/USD default comes from the pinned reference rates, and conversions through a USD leg use the price on screen.
v5	18 October 2026	Reference rates re-pinned to the ECB euro reference rates of 16 October 2026 and the pairs derived from them: 1 lot of EUR/USD at 1:100 holds $1,125.30.
v6	21 October 2026	The cross rate is entered as the market quotes the pair (EUR/GBP, not GBP/EUR); book mode nets same-pair positions for the distance to stop-out; the typical daily range is editable.

Swap Calculator

Gives the swap on a forex position for each day of financing and over the rollovers held, from the broker's swap points or the two currencies' interest rates, and adds the spread and commission to show the cost of holding the trade at entry, overnight and at exit.

Instruments and units: The same ten pairs and five account currencies as the Pip Value Calculator; volumes from 0.001 to 100 lots and up to 520 rollovers. The price is taken as the mid, by default the fixed reference rate.
Swap from interest rates: The long earns the base currency's annual rate and pays the quote currency's; the short is the reverse. Each leg accrues on its currency's day count: actual/360 for EUR, USD and CHF, actual/365 for GBP, JPY, AUD and CAD, and a basis the reader chooses for NZD, for which none has been verified. The base leg converts into the quote currency at the price. A markup entered as one annual total is split half on each leg, coming off the rate earned and added to the rate paid. The rates start at reference policy rates fixed in the code, which the reader replaces.
Swap from the broker's figures: The broker's swap long or swap short per lot for each day of financing, in points or in pips as the platform publishes it, × the size of that unit × the units, in the quote currency; on a 5-digit quote (3-digit for JPY pairs) a point is a tenth of a pip. A positive figure is a credit.
Rollovers: One rollover each trading day, from the first rollover held. The rollover on the triple day, Wednesday by default (the weekend rollover for pairs that settle two business days after the trade) and editable, carries three days of financing; every other rollover carries one.
Cost of holding: Half the spread and half the round-trip commission at entry, the swap at each rollover, and the other halves at exit. The spread is measured against the mid price; commission is taken as charged in the account currency. The swap and the spread convert into the account currency as in the Pip Value Calculator.
Not modelled: Value-date holidays, which move extra days onto other rollovers; the interbank tom-next forward points, which the interest-rate estimate approximates; swaps published as money or as a percentage; rate or swap-table changes during the holding period; conversion fees; and CFD financing.

Model versions

Version	Date	Change
v1	24 October 2026	Launch: swap from interest rates with each currency's day count and a markup split across the legs, or from the broker's swap in points or pips; the triple-swap day; and the cost of holding with spread and commission at entry and exit.

Prop Challenge Calculator

Applies a prop firm's challenge rules to the reader's own trading figures: the daily loss ceiling, the drawdown buffer, the risk per trade at which the limits are reached, the pace implied by the average trade, and the expected cost of getting funded.

Inputs: Account size, challenge fee and optional reset fee; one or two phases with their profit targets; maximum drawdown with its type (static, end-of-day trailing or intraday trailing) and daily loss limit on a balance or equity basis; minimum and maximum trading days and consistency rule; trading style (which pre-fills trades per day), trades per day, risk per trade, win rate and reward-to-risk ratio. Amounts are in dollars.
Risk per trade at your limits: The smaller of the daily limit spread across a day's trades and the drawdown limit spread across three full losing days. It is the point where a limit is reached exactly, so costs or a worse fill pass it.
Days at your average daily profit: The profit target divided by the average trade's expected profit and the number of trades a day, never fewer than the minimum trading days. It is an average pace, not a completion time, and it is not shown when the average trade does not make money.
Expected cost of getting funded: Expected attempts are 1 ÷ the pass rate, across a 5% to 17% band: 17% is Topstep's 16.8% of Trading Combines initiated in 2025 that were completed, rounded up, and 5% is an assumed lower bound. Topstep's figure counts Combines, and a reset restarts the same Combine, so the rate per attempt is at or below 16.8% and the low end of the cost range can understate the cost. The first attempt costs the fee; later attempts cost the reset fee where one is entered, otherwise the fee again.
Not modelled: Trading costs and worse fills, the order of profitable and loss-making trades, monthly subscription billing, firms that reset the daily limit from each day's balance, firm-specific lock points, any payout or funded income, and an individual trader's own pass rate.

Model versions

Version	Date	Change
v1	30 June 2026	Launch: daily ceiling, drawdown buffer, a "safe risk per trade" figure, days to target, expected cost across the pass-rate band, and an income projection with a payback period.
v2	17 October 2026	The no-pace message separates a trade with no edge from a missing input.
v3	23 October 2026	Outputs renamed to what they compute (risk per trade at your limits, days at your average daily profit); the income projection, payback period and profit-split input removed; risk at the limits rounds down.

Worked examples checked against the calculators

These examples appear on the homepage, the leverage risk worked example, the Position Size, Swap and Prop Challenge Calculator pages, the cost-of-a-trade article and the Pip Value Calculator's default state. An automated test recomputes each one with the calculators' own code on every change to the site and fails if a result changes; the homepage computes its figures from the same code, and the test checks that the leverage, position size, swap and prop pages and the cost-of-a-trade article still print theirs.

Example	Inputs	Result
Homepage sizing example	USD account $5,000, 1% risk, EUR/USD at the pinned rate, 30-pip stop, 0.01-lot step rounded down, Console illustrative 0.8-pip round trip	0.16 lots · $1.60 a pip · $1.28 spread · 0.96% risked
Pip Value Calculator, lot-sizing default	USD account $10,000, 1% risk, EUR/USD, 35-pip stop, 0.01-lot step rounded down, no costs (also asserted in pip-calc.verify.test.ts)	0.28 lots · $2.80 a pip · $98.00 planned loss
Position Size Calculator worked example	USD account $10,000, 1% risk ($100), long EUR/USD at the pinned rate, 35-pip stop, $7.00 round-trip commission per lot, 0.01-lot grid rounded down, 1:100	0.28 lots · $99.96 at the stop · $315.08 margin · $113.96 if the stop fills 5 pips late
Swap Calculator and cost-of-a-trade example	USD account, 1 lot EUR/USD long at the pinned rate, Monday open, 5 rollovers (7 days with the Wednesday triple), EUR 2.50% and USD 4.00% on actual/360, no markup, 0.2-pip spread, $7.00 round-trip commission per lot	−$4.69 a day · −$32.82 over 7 days of financing · −$41.82 with spread and commission
Leverage stop-out example	$10,000 equity, 1 standard lot EUR/USD at the pinned rate, 1:100, stop-out at 50% of margin held, margin held at entry	$1,125.30 margin · $562.65 stop-out equity · 944 pips to stop-out
Expected cost of a challenge	$200 challenge fee, assumed 10% per-attempt pass rate, independent attempts (1 ÷ p)	10 expected attempts · $2,000.00

Corrections log

Material corrections to published figures and claims since the site went public on 10 May 2026, newest first, dated by the day each reached the site's main branch. Where an accuracy review corrected many points on one page, the entry summarises the largest. Wording, typing and layout fixes are not listed. An error can be reported on the report an error page.

24 October 2026 · Market pages, prop pages, Learn articles, glossary and guides
A sourcing pass linked each sourced figure to its primary source and corrected what the sources did not support: MetaTrader 5's hedged margin follows its documented rule (€1,000 at full contract size, not €1,500), FundedNext's phase reward is 15% of the profit target rather than of the profit made, both ends of the forex trading week move to 21:00 UTC during US daylight saving time, the ether supply figure was updated, the TradingView guide no longer credits a paid-plan rule for webhooks to TradingView's help pages, an unsourced 2010–2021 gold-buying average was removed, and a WTI price attributed to the EIA was relabelled illustrative.
23 October 2026 · About, Editorial standards, Data sources and Cite
Claims that the arithmetic is exact for a trade, and that the Console shows mid-market reference rates, were narrowed: results are exact for the stated model, and Console figures are illustrative levels. The review process is described as it runs.
23 October 2026 · Homepage
Claims of exact numbers and of verifying a trade were removed, and copy that assumed the visitor already trades was rewritten.
23 October 2026 · Prop Challenge Calculator
"Safe risk per trade" became a stated limit, "days to target" an average pace, and the income and payback projections were removed; Topstep's 16.8% is scoped to the Trading Combines initiated in 2025.
21 October 2026 · Pip Value Calculator
Lot sizing could suggest a lot the account cannot margin (0.50 lot of EUR/USD at 1:100 needing $562.65 on a $500 account); it now flags this and gives the largest lot the account can margin, 0.44.
21 October 2026 · Margin Calculator
A cross rate typed as the market quotes it was applied the wrong way round: with EUR/GBP entered at 0.8439, 1 lot of GBP/USD at 1:100 on a EUR account gave EUR 843.90; it now gives EUR 1,184.97.
18 October 2026 · Pip Value and Margin Calculators
The reference rates were re-pinned to the ECB euro reference rates of 16 October 2026 and the pairs derived from them (EUR/USD 1.1253), and the calculators' worked examples recomputed.
18 October 2026 · Homepage and Console
Console prices moved from the content system into reviewed code, "today" framing was removed, and the homepage sizing example became 0.16 lots.
18 October 2026 · XAU/USD page, Learn articles, glossary and prop pages
The gold volatility band was recalibrated to the Cboe GVZ level, firm-variable prop rules stated as universal were reframed as one firm's terms, and broker-model and correlation claims were corrected.
17 October 2026 · Pip Value and Margin Calculators
The default lot sizing rounds down (0.28 lots and a $98.00 planned loss, not 0.29 lots risking $101.50 against a $100 budget); the exact stop-out distance replaced the linear one (USD/JPY at 150.00 on a $10,000 USD account, 1 lot at 1:100: 1,301 pips, not 1,425); the recovery count, at the EUR/USD rate then pinned (1.08437), became 293 trades, not 3 or 1,744; a yen pip is 100 times the 0.0001 pip, not 10 times.
17 October 2026 · Market pages, glossary and prop pages
BIS turnover figures were updated to the 2025 survey, the ether supply and staking figures were corrected, and prop rules stated as universal were reframed as firm-specific.
27 September 2026 · EUR/USD, XAU/USD and swap pages
An accuracy review of the EUR/USD page corrected its turnover baseline to the 2025 survey, a description of a margin call as closing positions, and a correlation sign; the swap rates and the triple-swap holiday rule on the swap pages, and the gold volatility bands on the XAU/USD page, were rebuilt on stated sources.
26 September 2026 · TradingView guide
Pine Script runs on TradingView's servers, not in the browser, and a standard alert lasts at most two months.
26 September 2026 · Market pages, hubs and Pip Value Calculator
Promises of features that were not live were removed: the market pages' snapshot note no longer promises live pricing, the platforms and markets hub intros no longer refer to later releases, and the Pip Value Calculator's table footnote no longer says it will update when live prices are enabled.
19 July 2026 · Homepage Console
The EUR/USD long swap was corrected from −$2.40 to −$7.00 a night and the gold swap from −$8.50 to −$25.00; a link labelled for a calculator that does not exist was relabelled.
3 July 2026 · Homepage
The sizing step showed 0.92 lots at 1% risk instead of 0.17, a round-trip spread was counted twice, and the Console's gold margin used leverage below 1:100; all three were recomputed.
3 July 2026 · XAU/USD page
Central-bank gold buying was updated from the 2024 figure to the World Gold Council's 863 tonnes for 2025, and the 2022–2026 rise corrected from +210% to +209%.
3 July 2026 · EUR/USD page
The FAQ's turnover share was corrected from 28% to 23%, and the 2022 move from 2,000 pips and $20,000 to 1,964 pips and $19,640.
2 July 2026 · What is a pip
The EUR/USD pip value for 1 standard lot on a USD account was corrected from $9.21 to $10, and a GBP/JPY example that was about 50 times too large was recomputed to about $0.67.
3 June 2026 · MetaTrader 4 and 5 guides, ETH/USD and S&P 500 pages
Leverage examples below 1:100 were replaced or reframed, and references to a named regulator were removed.
2 June 2026 · Margin Calculator
Leverage presets and examples below 1:100 were removed, after the same fix on two Learn articles on 1 and 2 June, and a GBP/USD notional that did not match its price (127,193 at 1.2719) was corrected to 127,190.
1 June 2026 · What is forex trading, How to read a forex quote and the forex glossary term
A round-trip spread was charged twice: the cost on what-is-forex-trading was corrected from $24 to $12 and on how-to-read-a-forex-quote from $40 to $20, and the forex glossary term's example was recomputed.
23 May 2026 · Pip Value Calculator
The lot-sizing block showed margin at a fixed leverage below 1:100; it now uses the leverage the reader enters.
17 May 2026 · Prop glossary terms
A scaling-plan worked example was recomputed ($381,500 to $244,140), a daily loss limit described as ending every account was reframed as firm-specific, and a firm wrongly named as offering static drawdown was corrected.

Where the numbers come from is set out on the data sources page, and how pages are checked under the editorial standards.