Mini lot
Family I · Instruments
Not to be confused with lot, lot size, standard lot.
Mini lot is a standardised order size of 10,000 units of the base currency, most often encountered in spot foreign exchange. It sits between the micro lot (1,000 units) and the standard lot (100,000 units) in the conventional size ladder. Because pip value scales linearly with trade size, a mini lot produces one-tenth the profit or loss per pip of a standard lot on the same pair.[1]
Size ladder and pip value
Position size is usually expressed in units of the base currency. The common tiers are the standard lot (100,000 units), the mini lot (10,000), the micro lot (1,000) and the nano lot (100). Not every broker offers every tier, and the smallest tradable size varies by venue and account type.
Pip value for a mini lot depends on the quote currency and the pair. For a pair quoted in US dollars, one pip (0.0001) on 10,000 units is worth 1.00 unit of the quote currency; for yen pairs, where a pip is 0.01, the calculation differs.
Worked example
Why the tier exists
Smaller lot sizes allow finer control of risk when account equity is limited or when a stop-loss must sit at a specific distance. A trader who would otherwise use one standard lot can split the exposure into ten mini lots, adjusting in increments of one-tenth rather than doubling or halving the position. Margin requirements are also proportional: a mini lot typically requires one-tenth of the margin of a standard lot, though exact leverage and margin rules vary by broker and regulator.
Often confused with
- lot
- A lot is the generic term for any standardised contract size, while a mini lot is one specific tier of 10,000 units; the visible sign is whether a number of units is stated or the word stands alone.
- lot size
- Lot size is the quantity dimension of a trade, whereas a mini lot is one named value on that dimension; the visible sign is that lot size can be any figure, including 0.37 lots, while a mini lot is exactly 10,000 units.
- standard lot
- A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, ten times a mini lot; the visible sign is the unit count, 100,000 versus 10,000.
See also
References
- ↑ Contract specifications published by the broker or exchange for each instrument. Lot sizes, tick sizes and pip values are set per instrument and differ between venues; read the specification for the symbol you trade.