Forex Grid Trading

How a grid works on a currency pair

Pick a price and a step, say 20 pips. A buy grid places a buy at the start price, another 20 pips lower, another 20 pips lower again, and so on, each with the same size. When the price rises 20 pips above any one of them, that position closes for the target. The bot is betting that the pair keeps moving up and down inside a range, collecting the step again and again. The general idea and spacing maths are on grid trading and in the grid calculator. For the expert advisor version, see grid EA.

On a currency pair three things are different from a grid on a spot coin:

• Leverage. The account holds only a slice of each position's value as margin, so more positions fit than the balance could buy outright. That also makes a bad run end faster.
• Swap. Holding a position past the daily rollover brings a charge or a credit, depending on the pair, the side and the day. It varies by broker.
• Spread. Each level is bought at the ask and closed at the bid, so the spread is paid on every position.

What the price trend does

In a range, price visits the same levels in both directions and each position closes for its step. In a down trend the buy grid fills level after level and nothing closes. The account is then holding several positions, all in loss, with the newest one furthest from the top. The loss grows faster than the price, because each fall of one pip now hurts every open level, not one. The margin requirement grows with each added position too.

A worked example: a 5 level grid in a fall

Every number is made up. A buy grid starts at 1.1000 with a step of 20 pips and 5 levels, so the levels are 1.1000, 1.0980, 1.0960, 1.0940, 1.0920. Each level is 0.1 lot, worth $1 per pip on a pair quoted in dollars. The spread is 1.2 pips, or $1.20 per level. The account is $2500 at 1:30 leverage, so each 0.1 lot needs the price times 10000 divided by 30 as margin. Spread is counted as paid when a level opens. Swap is left out of the table and added below. Everything was calculated by us on 29 Oct 2026 and is exact to the cent.

Read the table from the top. At 1.0980, one level has filled and the loss is -$20. By 1.0900 all 5 levels are open, with 300 pips of loss in total, -$300, and a margin level of 120.8 percent. The price is only 100 pips from the top, yet the grid is down 300 pips because five positions sit under it. At 1.0800, the loss is -$800 and the margin level has dropped to 94.1 percent. The grid has run out of levels, so it adds no new buys, but the account still carries them.

Swap. If each level is charged $0.30 a night (a made-up figure), five levels held 10 nights cost $15.00. In a long fall, this charge runs the whole time and does not depend on the price. On another pair or side, swap can be a credit instead.

The other direction. If the price rises 20 pips above a level, that level closes for 20 pips minus the 1.2 pip spread, which is 18.8 pips or $18.80 on 0.1 lot. Five full cycles in a range add up to $94.00, compared with -$300 of floating loss in the table at one fall to 1.0900. The asymmetry is the core risk of a grid: many small gains, one large floating loss.

How forex grids break, and what to check

• A trend outside the range. The levels run out, and the grid stops adding while the loss continues. See grid bot fees and costs and are grid bots profitable.
• Margin. Each added level lifts the margin held while equity falls. A margin call or stop out can close positions at the worst moment.
• Swap. A grid holds positions for days or weeks, so swap is not a small extra. Compare it with the step profit.
• Spread widening. At quiet hours or around news the spread widens, and a level can open or close at a worse price.
• Adding to the grid. Some designs grow the lot size at deeper levels. That is a martingale, with its own faster maths.
• Hedging the grid. Some designs open a sell to freeze the loss. That freezes exposure and not cost: see hedging strategy forex.

How to check a forex grid before using it

• Take the deepest fall in your test data, apply it to the full grid and compute the margin level, as in the table.
• Multiply the swap per night by the longest time the grid stayed open.
• Run the test with a wider spread, and with the data at tick detail if the grid acts inside bars.
• Write down the largest total open exposure and the lowest margin level in a journal.

What this page does not tell you

The numbers are made up, and the margin rules, swap rates and stop out levels differ by broker and by pair. A grid that survived one test period says little about the next.