forex units

hello guys I have a question about units, Im trying to impliment a money managment system.. from what ive been reading I should only risk 1- 3% of my balance. But when I go to enter a buy/sell it asks for units how do it calculate 1% of 3000$ in units.
thanx...

1 Standard lot - 100,000 unit
1 Mini lot - 10,000 unit

1 Standard lot give you +/- $10/pip
1 Mini Lot gives you +/-$1/pip

1% of $3,000 is $30 so:

with 1 minilot, you can set 30pips stoploss MAX.
with 0.5minilot, you could set 60pips stoploss MAX.
etc, etc.

I hope that answer your question.

hmmm ..thanks for the reply but im still confused, so if I wanted to place a trade with 1% of 3000$ which is 30$ .. how many units would I use.. with 20:1 leverage in a demo account at oanda. ????

thanks

at Oanda 1 unit is 1 dollar if your acct is denominated in USD. Leverage can go up to 50:1.

Forget about the leverage. You have 3 main variables here:
- Max risk
- # of Lots traded
- Max stop loss

You have to fix 2 of them to find the 3rd:
1- A
Fixing: Risk - 1% / 1 lot = $10,000
So, to limit your loss up to 1% of $3,000:
==> you must set stop loss at -30 pips from entry price

1- B
Fixing: Risk - 3% / 1 lot = $10,000
So, to limit your loss up to 3% of $3,000:
==> you must set stop loss at -90 pips from entry price

2-A
Fixing: Risk - 1% / Stop Loss at -30 pips below:
So, to limit your loss up to 1% of $3,000:
==> you must trade only 1 lot of $10,000
2-B
Fixing: Risk - 3% / Stop Loss at -30 pips below:
So, to limit your loss up to 3% of $3,000:
==> you must trade only 3 lot of $10,000

That would be all...

ohhhh .. so the risk element was meaning set your stop losses according to your pip value, so greater % of your capital u use requires you to set tighter stop losses!!!

thanks for the replys...