What Is a Standard Lot in Forex? Lot Sizes, Mini Lots and Micro Lots Explained
BY TIOmarkets
|March 21, 2026A lot is the standard unit of measurement for trade size in forex. When you place a trade, you are not specifying a dollar amount directly: you are specifying a number of lots, which determines how many units of the base currency you are buying or selling. Understanding lot sizes is fundamental to calculating the cost of a trade, the pip value of your position, and how much risk you are taking on relative to your account balance.
What Is a Standard Lot in Forex?
A standard lot in forex is 100,000 units of the base currency of the currency pair being traded. In a currency pair, the base currency is the first currency listed. For EURUSD, the base currency is the euro, so one standard lot represents 100,000 euros. For GBPUSD, the base currency is the pound sterling, so one standard lot represents 100,000 pounds. For USDJPY, the base currency is the US dollar, so one standard lot represents 100,000 US dollars.
The standard lot size applies across all major, minor, and exotic forex pairs. All forex pairs traded as spot contracts use a contract size of 100,000 units of the base currency per lot, confirmed from the TIOmarkets contract specifications page.
Mini Lots and Micro Lots
Not all forex trades need to be placed at full standard lot size. Most brokers allow you to trade fractions of a standard lot, which makes it possible to manage position size more precisely relative to your account balance.
A mini lot is 0.1 of a standard lot, representing 10,000 units of the base currency. A micro lot is 0.01 of a standard lot, representing 1,000 units of the base currency. Some brokers also offer nano lots at 0.001 of a standard lot, representing 100 units of the base currency.
These smaller lot sizes give traders flexibility to size positions in proportion to their account equity and risk tolerance. A trader with a smaller account balance can still trade forex meaningfully by working with micro or mini lots rather than full standard lots.
How Lot Size Affects Pip Value
The pip value of a position is directly proportional to lot size. A larger lot means each pip movement is worth more in monetary terms; a smaller lot means each pip movement is worth less.
For a USD-denominated account trading EURUSD, one pip on a standard lot (100,000 units) is worth approximately $10. On a mini lot (10,000 units, or 0.1 lots), one pip is worth approximately $1. On a micro lot (1,000 units, or 0.01 lots), one pip is worth approximately $0.10.
These figures apply specifically to USD account holders trading EURUSD. Pip value varies depending on the currency pair being traded and the base currency of your account. For pairs where the US dollar is not the quote currency, or for accounts held in a currency other than USD, pip values will differ. The TIOmarkets pip value calculator at tiomarkets.com/pip-value-calculator can be used to calculate the exact pip value for your account currency and chosen pair.
How Lot Size Relates to Margin
When you open a leveraged position, the margin required to hold that position is calculated as a percentage of the full notional value of the trade. Lot size directly determines the notional value, so it also determines how much margin is required.
For example, on EURUSD with a 1% margin requirement, one standard lot (100,000 units at, say, 1.10 exchange rate) has a notional value of approximately $110,000. The required margin at 1% is $1,100. A mini lot of 0.1 would require $110 in margin, and a micro lot of 0.01 would require $11.
Margin requirements vary by instrument. Most major and minor forex pairs carry a 1% margin requirement. Some pairs carry higher requirements: Swiss franc crosses including USDCHF, AUDCHF, CADCHF, CHFJPY, EURCHF, GBPCHF, and NZDCHF carry a 5% margin requirement. USDCNH and USDHKD carry a 10% margin requirement. These figures are confirmed from the TIOmarkets contract specifications page.
Lot Size and Commission
On commission-based accounts, the commission charged per trade is expressed as a fixed amount per round turn lot. This means commission scales directly with lot size. On TIOmarkets' Raw account, the commission is $6 per round turn lot, charged in full when the position is opened and covering both the opening and closing of the trade.
At 1.0 lots the commission is $6. At 0.1 lots it is $0.60. At 0.01 lots it is $0.06. For accounts held in a base currency other than USD, the commission is converted at the prevailing exchange rate. On zero-commission accounts such as the Standard and VIP Black, lot size does not affect the commission because no commission applies, though it still affects the spread cost in monetary terms.
Minimum and Maximum Lot Sizes at TIOmarkets
TIOmarkets supports the following minimum lot sizes across its account types. The Standard, Raw, and VIP Black accounts all support a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots, which is the micro lot level. The Nano account supports a minimum trade size of 0.001 lots, which is the nano lot level and represents 100 units of the base currency.
The maximum lot size per trade across all account types is 20 lots. This applies regardless of account type or instrument. A maximum of 200 open and pending orders are permitted per client across all accounts.
The Nano account is available on MT5 only and is denominated in USD only, with a minimum deposit of $20.
How to Check Lot Sizes in the Platform
Full contract specifications for any instrument, including the contract size per lot, can be found inside the MT4 or MT5 trading platform. To access them, go to the Market Watch window, right-click on the instrument symbol, and select Specification from the menu that appears. The symbol description window will show all specifications for that instrument, including contract size, margin requirements, and trading hours.
This is the most reliable way to confirm the exact lot size and margin requirements for any instrument before placing a trade, including for commodities, indices, stocks, and crypto CFDs where lot sizes differ from the forex standard.
Lot Sizes for Non-Forex Instruments
The 100,000 unit standard lot applies specifically to forex. Other instrument categories use different lot size conventions.
For gold (XAUUSD), one standard lot is 100 troy ounces, a mini lot is 10 ounces, and a micro lot is 1 ounce. For oil contracts such as USOIL and UKOIL, one standard lot is 1,000 barrels, with a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots representing 10 barrels. For natural gas (USNGAS), the lot structure follows a similar pattern to other energy commodities.
For stock CFDs, one standard lot is 100 shares of the underlying company, and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots representing one share. For crypto CFDs such as BTCUSD and ETHUSD, one standard lot is 10 units of the cryptocurrency, with a minimum of 0.01 lots.
Index CFD lot sizes are expressed in contracts rather than units. For example, the SP500 has a standard lot of 100 contracts with a minimum of 0.01 lots. UK100 and DE40 have standard lots of 10 contracts with a minimum of 0.01 lots.
For current lot size specifications on any instrument, check the contract specifications inside the MT4 or MT5 platform using the method described above.
Choosing the Right Lot Size for Your Account
Lot size is one of the most direct levers available to a trader for managing risk. Selecting a lot size that is disproportionately large relative to your account balance is one of the most common causes of rapid account drawdown, particularly when combined with leverage.
A common approach is to determine the maximum monetary risk you are willing to accept on a single trade, expressed either as a fixed amount or as a percentage of account equity, and then work backwards from your stop-loss distance in pips to determine the appropriate lot size. Knowing the pip value per lot for your chosen pair and account currency is the key input in that calculation.
The TIOmarkets lot size calculator can assist with this calculation. The pip value calculator returns the pip value for a given lot size in your account currency, and the margin calculator shows the margin required for a given lot size and leverage level.
FAQ
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