How Much Money Do You Need to Run a Forex or Gold EA? Worked Examples in Euros

Start with risk per trade, not with the deposit

An Expert Advisor does not need a certain deposit to run. What it needs is a lot size that fits your risk. That is why two traders with the same EA and different accounts can have very different outcomes. The method has three steps: pick the percentage of the account you accept losing on one trade, find the EA's stop loss distance, and turn both into a lot size. If that lot size is smaller than the broker's minimum, the account is too small.

A figure many traders use is 1 percent of the account per trade, or less. It is not a rule of nature, and some EAs risk far less per trade by design. Whatever you choose, the choice should come before you load the EA, not after you see a drawdown. Our risk management guide for EAs covers the reasoning.

The smallest account for 1 percent risk

The table uses the smallest lot, 0.01, which most brokers offer, and the exchange rate EURUSD 1.15 for clarity. Gold is counted at 1 ounce for 0.01 lots, so a 1 dollar move is about 0.87 euros. Check the contract size and minimum lot at your own broker.

Two things stand out. Gold needs several times the account of EURUSD for the same risk, because each stop is worth more. And the stop distance matters as much as the symbol: an EA that uses a 40 dollar stop on gold needs an account of over 3,000 euros to keep a single loss near 1 percent, even at the smallest lot. Use the gold lot size calculator or the lot size calculator to run your own numbers.

Worked examples by account size

Look at the 500 euro row. A trader who loads a gold EA with a 10 dollar stop on that account cannot get below about 1.7 percent per trade at the smallest lot. They can accept that higher risk knowingly, switch to an EA with a smaller stop, trade EURUSD instead, or wait to deposit more. What they should not do is raise the lot size to speed things up, which is how most small accounts are lost.

Leave room for drawdown

Risk per trade is half the story. A string of losing trades produces a drawdown, and the backtest report shows how large it has been. Take the maximum equity drawdown from a real-ticks test and treat it as a floor, not a ceiling: history rarely contains the worst case. A common planning habit is to allow for something like double the tested drawdown and ask whether you would still be comfortable and still have margin.

The recovery arithmetic is unforgiving. A loss of 20 percent needs a 25 percent gain to get back to even. A loss of 50 percent needs a 100 percent gain. The drawdown calculator shows the figures, and our drawdown guide explains how EAs reach them.

20%

Loss that needs a 25% gain to recover

33%

Loss that needs a 50% gain to recover

50%

Loss that needs a 100% gain to recover

Margin and running costs

Margin is the deposit your broker holds against open positions. For a retail account in the European Union, leverage is capped at 30 to 1 on major pairs and 20 to 1 on gold, as set out in our European rules guide. At those limits, 0.01 lots of EURUSD need about 33 euros of margin, and 0.01 lots of gold need about 5 percent of the position value. An EA that opens several positions needs margin for all of them. Check that free margin stays comfortable at the EA's maximum number of open trades, not just at one.

• The EA itself is a one-off or recurring cost, depending on the licence. See lifetime, subscription or rental.
• A VPS is a monthly fee if you want the EA to run around the clock. Compare providers and check the terms.
• Spread, commission and swap are costs on every trade. A small account feels them more, because a fixed commission is a larger share of a small lot's result.
• Your time: reviewing logs and the account weekly takes real effort and should be part of the plan.

If your account is smaller than the table says

1. 1

   Step 1: Pick an instrument with a smaller stop in money

   EURUSD or another forex pair usually needs a much smaller account than gold for the same stop in pips.

2. 2

   Step 2: Choose an EA with a tighter, documented stop

   A smaller stop means a smaller loss per lot, but check that it is not so tight that the spread eats it.

3. 3

   Step 3: Try a cent or micro account if your broker offers one

   These let you trade smaller sizes. Confirm they allow EAs and that the symbols and spreads match the EA's tests.

4. 4

   Step 4: Run on demo and save

   A demo run costs nothing. Deposit when the account can support your risk limit.

5. 5

   Step 5: Consider the prop challenge route with care

   A challenge fee gives access to a larger funded account but sets strict loss limits. See EAs on FTMO and the prop firm challenge calculator.

Five sizing mistakes that empty small accounts

1. Raising the lot size to recover a loss. It turns a normal drawdown into a risk of ruin. Keep the risk percentage fixed, and let the lot size follow the balance.
2. Using the EA's default lot on any account. A default is tuned to the author's test account. Replace it with a lot size you worked out yourself.
3. Running several EAs and counting each risk separately. If they all trade gold, they can all lose in the same move. Add the risks together.
4. Ignoring the minimum lot. If the broker's smallest lot risks more than your limit, no setting can fix it. Pick a smaller stop, a cheaper symbol or a bigger account.
5. Funding the account with money you need. Rent, savings and debt payments cannot be part of a trading balance. Fear of loss changes how people manage an EA, and usually for the worse.

Write the answers down before you attach the EA: the percentage you accept per trade, the largest total open risk, the drawdown at which you stop the EA, and the date you will review it. These four numbers do more for your account than any setting inside the EA.