Risk Mode

With Risk Mode you don’t pick a position size. You pick your stop loss and how much of your account you are willing to risk. SigSig then calculates the size, so that if your stop loss is hit you lose about that amount, including trading fees.

Turn it on

In the order panel, switch on Risk Mode (right above TP/SL). It works with plain Limit and Market orders. While it is on, the quantity and order size are calculated for you and locked (hover the field to see why), and the stop loss and take profit are set in the Risk Mode fields. Advanced order types such as Chase Limit are not affected: when you switch to one, you enter the quantity yourself as usual.

How to use it

1. Choose Buy or Sell and, for a limit order, enter your price.
2. Enter your SL Price. For a long it must be below your entry, for a short above. The line below shows the distance to your entry: from the market price for a market order, from your limit price for a limit order.
3. Enter your Risk, as a percent of your total account value (for example 1 %) or as a fixed amount in USDC. Use the small arrow to switch between the two; the line below shows the other value.
4. Optional: enter a TP Price, or the Profit you want to make. The two are linked, and the line below shows how much that would add to your account.
5. Check Qty, Order size and the Margin bar, then submit as usual. Your order is sent with the stop loss (and take profit) attached.

If you switch to another market, the stop loss and take profit are cleared, because prices from one market make no sense on another. Your risk setting stays.

How the size is calculated

position-size

Size = Risk amount ÷ ( |Entry − Stop loss| + Entry fee × Entry + Exit fee × Stop loss )

• Risk amount: with percent: that share of your total account value (your balance plus the unrealized PnL of open positions). With amount: the USDC amount you entered.
• |Entry − Stop loss|: how much the price moves against you per unit until the stop loss triggers.
• Entry fee × Entry: the fee per unit when you open. For a market order SigSig uses your taker fee, for a limit order your maker fee (Limit with IOC or FOK fills at once and counts as taker).
• Exit fee × Stop loss: the fee per unit when the stop loss closes the position. A stop loss executes as a market order, so this is always your taker fee.
• SigSig uses the fee rates of your account, including your VIP level.
• The result is rounded down to the smallest tradable size of the market.

Entry price: for a limit order your limit price, for a market order the current mark price.

Turn on Post-only for limit orders

For a limit order SigSig counts the maker fee, because the size is fixed before you send the order. A limit order that crosses the order book fills at once and pays the taker fee instead. Then your loss at the stop loss is slightly higher than your risk (about the difference between taker and maker fee on your entry). With Post-only switched on, the order only ever rests in the book and the calculation holds.

Example

Market order, long ETH, entry 2,690, stop loss 2,660, taker fee 0.1 %, account value 66 USDC, risk 1 % = 0.66 USDC:

	Without fees	With fees (how SigSig calculates)
Price loss per ETH	30.00	30.00
Fees per ETH: 0.1 % × (2,690 + 2,660)	–	5.35
Total loss per ETH	30.00	35.35
Size	0.0220 ETH	0.0186 ETH
Actual loss at the stop loss	0.66 + 0.12 fees = 0.78 USDC	0.66 USDC

Sizing without fees would lose about 18 % more than you chose. SigSig makes the position a little smaller instead, so your loss at the stop loss matches your risk.

What is not included

• Slippage on the stop loss. Stop losses execute as market orders. In fast or thin markets the fill can be worse than your stop price, so the actual loss can be larger than your risk.
• Funding. Funding payments while the position is open can add or subtract a little, depending on how long you hold it.
• A limit order that fills at once. Without Post-only, a limit order that crosses the book pays the taker fee instead of the maker fee SigSig counted, so you lose slightly more than your risk.
• Market order entries. The entry is estimated from the mark price; your real fill can be slightly different.

Because of the rounding down, Risk Mode errs on the safe side: apart from slippage, funding and a limit order filled as taker, you don’t lose more than your risk at the stop loss.

The margin bar

The bar between Order size and the Buy / Sell button shows how much of your free collateral the position uses as margin:

margin-used

Margin used = Order size ÷ Leverage ÷ Free collateral

It turns red above 100 %. If the calculated size is larger than you can open, lower your risk, move your stop loss further away or raise your leverage. Note that a higher leverage does not change your risk at the stop loss; it only changes how much margin the position needs and how close the liquidation price is. The stop loss has to trigger before the liquidation price, so keep an eye on the estimated liquidation price as well.

The take profit fields

TP Price and Profit show the same target in two ways. Profit is calculated like the size, after fees (entry fee as above, the take profit closes as a market order with the taker fee):

profit-at-take-profit

Profit = Size × |Take profit − Entry| − Size × (Entry fee × Entry + Exit fee × Take profit)

The line below shows the price distance and how much the profit adds to your account value.