A lot is a fixed quantity of units and depends on the instrument traded. When traders purchase and sell financial instruments in the capital markets, they do so with lots. For example, when trading forex, there are micro, mini, and standard lots. A micro lot is 1,000 of the base currency, a mini lot is 10,000, and a standard lot is 100,000. While it is possible to exchange currencies at a bank or currency exchange in amounts less than 1,000, when trading through a forex broker, typically the smallest trade size is 1,000 unless stated otherwise.