Calculate stop loss price, target, max ₹ loss, max ₹ gain, and risk-reward ratio for any trade — long or short. Built-in 1-2% capital-risk position-sizing rule.
SEBI's 2024 study found ~91% of individual F&O traders lost money. The losses are almost never about bad entry signals — they're about absent or undisciplined risk management. Stop loss is what enforces the discipline.
This calculator does three things in one: (1) computes your stop loss and target prices, (2) checks the risk-reward ratio against the professional minimum of 1:2, and (3) sizes your position using the 1-2% capital risk rule. Use it before every trade.
The 1-2% Capital Risk Rule
The single most important rule in retail trading: never risk more than 1-2% of total capital on a single trade. At 1% risk per trade, you can have 50 consecutive losers before halving your capital — giving you decades of room to refine your edge. At 10% risk per trade, just 7 losers in a row halve your account.
Risk Per Trade
Consecutive Losses to Halve Capital
Suitable For
1%
69
Strongly recommended
2%
35
Acceptable for experienced
5%
14
Risky
10%
7
Account-killer
Stop Loss & Position Size Calculator
Enter trade details below — calculator handles long and short, % or absolute prices
Direction of your trade
Your planned entry price per share
% away from entry (auto-computes stop price)
% away from entry — set R:R ≥ 1:2
Total capital across your trading account
Recommended 1-2% — calculator sizes position to this
How to Place a Stop Loss Order (Practical)
On all major Indian discount brokers (Zerodha, Upstox, Groww, ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities) you can choose:
SL (Stop Loss Limit): Trigger price + limit price. When trigger hits, becomes a LIMIT order at your specified limit. Guarantees price; may not execute if market gaps past the limit.
SL-M (Stop Loss Market): Trigger price only. When hit, becomes a MARKET order. Guarantees execution; may have slippage on fast moves.
Practical Rule:
For liquid Nifty 50 / Nifty Next 50 stocks during normal market hours — SL with limit ~0.3-0.5% beyond the trigger is fine. For news-driven volatility (earnings, RBI decisions, F&O expiry), or for thinly-traded small caps, prefer SL-M to guarantee execution even at unfavourable prices.
The Mental Stop-Loss Trap:
"I'll exit if it falls to X" — said without placing an actual order — is not a stop loss. It's wishful thinking. In a 5% intraday drop, the same trader who said "I'll exit at 3% down" usually waits "for a small bounce." The bounce never comes; the loss compounds. Always place the order at the platform. Take the emotion out.
Read the Full Guide on Stop Loss
Want to understand stop loss philosophy, types, common mistakes, and how to combine it with support/resistance for high-conviction trade setups?
A stop loss is a pre-defined price at which you exit a losing trade to cap your downside. It's a discipline tool — set before you enter the trade, executed automatically when triggered (via SL/SL-M orders on Zerodha, Upstox, Groww). For a long position, the stop loss is below the entry price; for a short, it's above. The purpose is to enforce that any single trade cannot do more than a small, pre-budgeted amount of damage to your capital.
Use the 1-2% capital risk rule. Position size = (Total capital × Risk per trade %) ÷ (Entry price − Stop loss price). Example: ₹5 lakh capital, 1% risk per trade = ₹5,000 max loss. Entry ₹500, stop loss ₹490 = ₹10 risk per share. Position size = ₹5,000 ÷ ₹10 = 500 shares. This ensures that even when stopped out, you only lose 1% of capital — leaving 100+ trades worth of capital intact.
Minimum 1:2 for swing trades, 1:3 or better for positional. Risk-reward (R:R) = (Target − Entry) ÷ (Entry − Stop loss). At 1:2, even with a 40% win rate, the strategy is profitable (40% × 2R − 60% × 1R = +0.2R per trade). Below 1:1.5, you need a very high win rate (which is hard) to remain profitable. Most professional traders only take trades with R:R ≥ 1:2.
SL (Stop Loss Limit) order: when trigger price is hit, it becomes a LIMIT order at your specified limit price — guarantees price but may not execute if market gaps past the limit. SL-M (Stop Loss Market) order: when trigger price is hit, it becomes a MARKET order — guarantees execution but at whatever price is available next (can have slippage in volatile moves). For high-volume liquid stocks, SL is usually fine. For thinly traded stocks or expected volatility (earnings, F&O expiry), SL-M ensures the exit happens even if price moves fast.
Wide enough to absorb normal volatility, tight enough to limit risk per trade. Common methods: (1) Percentage-based — 2-5% for swing trades on liquid stocks. (2) Support-based — just below recent swing low (long) or above swing high (short). (3) ATR-based — 1.5-2× the stock's Average True Range (its daily volatility). (4) Volatility-adjusted — 1.5-2× the 20-day standard deviation. Too tight = stopped out by routine noise; too wide = single trade can wipe out multiple trades' worth of gains.
Less critical for long-term fundamental investments, more critical for trades. Long-term investors typically don't use stop losses on quality companies they bought based on fundamentals — temporary 30-40% drawdowns happen even in great stocks. They instead reassess if the underlying business thesis breaks. For trades and shorter horizons (under 3-6 months), stop losses are essential discipline tools. The line: investing in businesses doesn't need stop loss; trading prices does.
