Four ways to size a position, and when each one makes sense

A signal that just says "buy" doesn't tell you how much to buy. That's decided by whichever sizing method you've attached to the subscription, and the four available methods produce meaningfully different behavior from the same signal.

Fixed quantity

The simplest option: every signal buys the same number of shares or contracts, regardless of price or account size. Predictable, but a $50 stock and a $500 stock get treated identically in dollar terms.

Amount per position

You specify a dollar amount, and quantity is calculated as amount ÷ entry price. A $1,000 allocation buys 20 shares of a $50 stock and 2 shares of a $500 one — dollar exposure stays constant even as price moves.

Risk per position

This one needs a stop loss to work: quantity is calculated from how much you're willing to lose, divided by the distance to your stop. Risk $100 on a stock with a $10 stop distance and you get 10 shares — tighten the stop and the size increases automatically, since the position can now absorb more shares before hitting the same dollar risk.

Percent of equity

Sizes as a percentage of your account value rather than a fixed dollar figure, so position size grows and shrinks with the account automatically. Worth noting: settings above 100% are technically valid and will use margin — five positions at 25% each adds up to 125% of equity.

Picking one

There's no universally correct choice. Risk-based sizing is popular with traders who think in stop distance first; percent-of-equity suits anyone compounding an account over time; fixed quantity is honestly fine for a lot of futures strategies where the contract multiplier already does most of the sizing work for you.