Mini lot

A mini lot is 10,000 units of the base currency. On platforms that express volume in standard lots, it appears as 0.10. Mini lots are a common size for smaller accounts because they keep the money at stake per pip modest while still letting a trader hold a meaningful position.

Example

Illustrative figures on EUR/USD:

• One pip on 10,000 euros is 10,000 × 0.0001 = $1.
• A 40-pip stop on one mini lot risks about $40.
• Three mini lots (0.30) with the same stop risk about $120.

Suppose your account is $3,000 and you want to risk no more than 1% ($30) on a trade with a 40-pip stop. Dividing $30 by 40 pips gives $0.75 a pip, which is 0.075 lots. Rounding down to the platform's step of 0.01 gives 0.07 lots, a little under one mini lot. The position size calculator does this arithmetic and rounds down for you.

Practical note

The word "mini" refers to the trade size, not to the account. Some brokers once sold "mini accounts" that used mini lots as the base unit, which caused confusion when a "1 lot" order meant 10,000 units on one account and 100,000 on another. Most modern accounts express everything in standard lots, but it is worth confirming the contract size before your first trade. The full family of sizes is explained at standard lot, micro lot and in our guide to lot sizes and position sizing.