Capital-at-Risk Snapshot

How to use this tool

1. Enter the current account balance.
2. Add the complete stop-based loss on every open position.
3. Add pending orders that could activate before other risk disappears.
4. Enter the proposed risk for the next trade.
5. Set a personal aggregate ceiling and copy current firm-loss headroom from the official dashboard.
6. Apply a stress buffer, review the smaller binding limit, and reduce exposure if the snapshot exceeds it.

See the calculation in context

A $50,000 account with $500 open risk, $250 pending risk and a proposed $250 trade has $1,000 base exposure. With a 15% stress buffer, the snapshot is $1,150, or 2.3% of the account.

Calculation method

Current risk = open-position risk + pending-order risk. Stress-adjusted capital at risk = (current risk + proposed risk) × (1 + stress buffer). The binding ceiling is the smaller of the personal dollar limit and firm headroom entered.

Common mistakes

1. Leaving pending orders out of the snapshot
2. Assuming separate markets cannot become correlated
3. Using margin instead of loss-at-stop risk
4. Entering the firm’s starting loss allowance instead of current headroom
5. Ignoring floating losses, fees, gaps and slippage
6. Treating unused headroom as a recommended amount to risk

Questions and answers