How to Calculate Position Size on Index CFDs

One unit, one dollar a point

An index CFD is a contract on the index number itself, and on most platforms one lot is one unit of it. The Nasdaq 100 opened on 3 September 2026 at 29,103.81, so one lot was $29,104 of index, and at a leverage of one to a hundred — the broker holding back one hundredth and lending the rest — $291 of that was held back. The step is the simplest on the platform: the index moves one point, the lot moves one dollar. Some brokers make a lot ten units, and a few a tenth; the Contract size line of the specification says which, and the point's value follows from it.

One real day, three sizes

Here is the point's value on a real day. The Nasdaq opened at 29,103.81 and closed at 29,457.84, a rise of 354.03 points. On one lot that day was $354.03. On a tenth of a lot it was $35.40, and on five lots $1,770.15. The points are the day and the lots are the size; a point is a dollar per lot, so the money is the points times the lots, and the arithmetic is the same on the Dow, at 592.71 points that day, with a different number of points.

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