CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Excess volatility increases risk further. Be cautious. Past performance is not an indication of future results.
Open an Exness account
Arithmetic, not opinion

Every figure on a trading screen is the output of one short sum — Pakistan

This site works out numbers. It does not re-explain the subject from scratch — that sits on the page about who publishes which constant, the page that turns a quote into money, the page on contract size and the sorted word list. Here: which sum produces which line, in what order the sums run, and how to check an answer against the screen that printed it.

See the chain of sums Open a free demo at Exness

This is an independent guide that writes about the broker and never speaks for it. Accounts are opened and orders are placed on the broker's own site, not here. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.

Four things go in: a size in lots, a price, a leverage figure and a distance measured in points. Everything else on the screen is those four put through multiplication and division. Size × units-per-lot gives units. Units × price gives the value of the position. That value ÷ leverage gives the amount reserved. Distance × money-per-point × size gives the running result. Learn those four sums and no printed figure is a surprise; miss one and the screen reads like weather.

The chain

Which sum produces which line

Read downwards: each row uses an answer from a row above it. Nothing here quotes anybody's terms — it is arithmetic on figures your own ticket prints.

Four inputs at the top, six outputs underneath them.
Line on the screen The sum behind it Where its inputs are read
Units of the instrument size in lots × units in one lot You type the first; the contract fixes the second
Value of the position units × the current price The row above, times the quote on the chart
Amount reserved to open value ÷ the leverage figure The row above, divided by a figure in the account details
Money per point of movement units × one step of price Units, times the smallest step the symbol quotes
Running result while open points moved × money per point , times the row above
Cost of crossing the spread spread in points × money per point The two quotes on the ticket, times the row above

Six outputs, four inputs, and not one step that asks what the market is likely to do. That is why they are worth writing out: a reserved amount or a running loss is a consequence of the size you typed, never a verdict on the idea behind it. The long version of the reserved line sits on the page about which constant an account swaps.

One worked example, all the way down

Take the smallest size a Standard account accepts, 0.01 lots, on EUR/USD at 1.1000, and use 100 as the leverage figure purely to keep the division visible. Your own account details carry the real one.

  1. Lots become units

    A full lot of a currency pair is 100,000 units of the first currency named in the pair. A hundredth of that is 1,000 euros. The multiplier belongs to the contract and reads the same on a practice screen as on a funded one.

  2. Units become a value

    1,000 euros at 1.1000 is about $1,100. That is what the position is worth in the account currency, and it is re-quoted every time the ticket opens, because the price underneath it moves.

  3. Value becomes a reservation

    $1,100 ÷ 100 is $11 fenced off while the trade is open. It is not spent and not paid to anyone; it returns to the free part of the balance when the position closes.

  4. The branch that prices movement

    Step one branches a second time: the same unit count, multiplied by one step of the quote, gives what a movement is worth. That branch is worked through on the conversion page rather than repeated here.

Three multiplications and one division produced every line. Change the size and all of them move together; change the leverage figure and only step three moves. Knowing which is which is worth more than any glossary.

The chain also runs backwards

Forwards, a size is typed and the screen reports what it costs. Backwards, the amount you are willing to lose is fixed first and the arithmetic hands you the size. Same constants, one division reversed — and the decision lands before the ticket instead of after it. works that direction through, and the calculator runs it for you.

Six figures to copy off your own screen first

Until these are written down, every sum here is a demonstration rather than your answer. All six are readable without placing anything.

  • The account currency. Every total prints in it, and a conversion hides inside any result that began in another currency.
  • The leverage figure. The only input to the division in step three.
  • Units in one lot for your symbol. A currency pair and a metal do not share it.
  • The smallest size, and the step above it. Rounding lives here, and so does the answer «that size cannot be placed».
  • The spread showing right now. Two quotes, subtracted — see the pre-click check.
  • Whether a commission applies. On several account types it is $0; where one is charged it is quoted per side and per lot, so a round turn counts it twice.

What the arithmetic will not do

Sums answer «how much», never «whether». Trading is high risk, many people lose money when they start, and a correct calculation changes neither fact — it only removes surprise from the figures. Three habits sit outside the arithmetic and matter more than it:

  • Trade no money you need for living. Rent, food and family savings are not inputs to any sum on this site.
  • Rehearse on a demo. A size that frightens you on virtual money will not improve when the money is real.
  • Decide the exit before the entry. The stop distance is typed by a person; every sum here treats it as already given.

Nobody can promise trading profits, and no calculation implies one. What these pages can do is make the number that appears the number you expected. Slips that follow from a borrowed constant are collected on the arithmetic mistakes page, and the whole sequence sits in the order of operations.

Questions about the figures

What people ask once the sums are visible

Why does one size cost a different amount on two instruments?

Units in one lot differ from contract to contract, so the very first multiplication differs. Nothing about the account is involved.

The reserved amount changed while nothing was clicked. Which input moved?

The price. Value of the position is units × price, and the reservation is that value divided by the leverage figure.

Is a pip the same thing as a point?

Not always. A pip is the fourth decimal on most currency pairs; many platforms quote a fifth digit, and a point is that smaller step. settles the confusion.

Does a bigger leverage figure make a trade bigger?

No. It divides the reservation, so it changes how much is fenced off. The position, its value and its money per point are untouched by it.

Which single figure is worth verifying before every order?

Money per point for that symbol at that size. Every other output on the ticket leans on it.

The calculator printed a size below the smallest one allowed. Now what?

The sum is finished and correct; the size just cannot be placed as typed. Either the accepted loss or the stop distance has to change.

Where does a commission enter the arithmetic?

Outside the four sums, as its own line — quoted per side and per lot on the account types that carry one, and counted twice over a round turn.

Can any of this be checked without money?

Yes. A free demo prints the same outputs from the same inputs, which makes it a checking machine — see the reconciliation drills.

What does leverage cost, arithmetically?

Nothing by itself: it is not borrowed money to repay. It divides the reservation, which is why a bigger figure lets a bigger size be opened — and a bigger size multiplies the money per point in both directions.

Which figure on this page is not arithmetic at all?

The stop distance. It is a judgement typed into the ticket, and every sum here treats it as given.

Can an account be opened here?

No. This is an independent guide about the broker — not Exness, not a bank, holding nobody's money. Accounts and orders live on the broker's own site, where the buttons here lead. Reading these pages costs nothing.

More questions whose answer is a sum — and if a screen still disagrees with your paper, ask on the Help page.

Where to take the arithmetic next

Run the division

An accepted loss and a stop distance in; a size in lots out.

Open the calculator

Collect the constants

The figures no sum can be finished without, and where each is read.

See the six lines

Take the sums in order

Which number has to be settled before the next one means anything.

Start with the sequence

Check the sums against a live screen, on virtual money

A free demo prints the same reserved amount and the same money per point as a funded account, with nothing to send and no time limit. Predict a figure on paper, then open the ticket and see whether it matches.

Open a free demo at Exness