How to use the profit and loss calculator
- Choose long or short. A long trade gains when the price rises. A short trade gains when it falls.
- Pick the currency and enter the position size. Use shares, coins, lots or contracts, whatever your platform counts in.
- Enter your entry and exit prices. Use the prices you were actually filled at, not the prices you clicked. The difference is slippage, and it belongs in the result.
- Set the contract multiplier and the round-trip fees. Shares and coins use a multiplier of 1. Fees are everything you paid to get in and out, as one amount of money.
- Enter your leverage. Leave it at 1 for an unlevered trade. Above 1, the calculator adds the return on the margin you posted.
The answer updates as you type. The first chart shows the net result at every exit price around your entry, so you can see where the trade turns from a loss into a gain. The second chart splits the gross result, the fees and what is left. The address bar always holds a link to your exact numbers.
The profit and loss formula
Profit and loss is the price move, turned into money, minus what the trade cost:
gross P&L = (exit − entry) × size × multiplier long
gross P&L = (entry − exit) × size × multiplier short
net P&L = gross P&L − fees
position value = entry × size × multiplier
return on position = net P&L ÷ position value
margin = position value ÷ leverage
return on margin = net P&L ÷ margin
break-even exit = entry + fees ÷ (size × multiplier) long
break-even exit = entry − fees ÷ (size × multiplier) short
The multiplier is what one unit gains or loses when the price moves by 1.0. It is 1 for a share or a coin, and it is the point value for a futures contract. Fees are the round trip in money: commission in, commission out, and any exchange or platform charge. Leverage is the position value divided by the margin you post, so 5 means you post a fifth of the position's value.
The break-even exit is the price at which the gross result exactly pays the fees. Above it, a long trade is in profit. Below it, a long trade is still a loss even though the price is higher than your entry.
Worked example
You buy 50 shares at 100 and sell them at 110. The round trip costs 10 in fees, and your broker lets you trade with 5x leverage. Those are the defaults in the calculator above.
The trade made $490, which is 9.80% of the position and 49.00% of the margin. The dollars are the same in both percentages. Only the base you divide by changes.
Gross profit, net profit and the cost of getting in and out
The number a chart shows is the gross move. The number that reaches your account is the net result, and the gap between them is the fees. On a large move the gap is small. On a small move it can be the whole trade.
Take the example above and close at 100.10 instead of 110. The gross result is 0.10 × 50 = $5.00, but the fees are $10.00, so the net result is a loss of $5.00. The price went your way and you still lost money, because the exit was below the break-even price of 100.20. The chart in the calculator makes this visible: the profit line crosses zero to the right of your entry, not at it.
This is why the cost of a trade matters most to people who trade often. Ten trades that each give back $10 in fees cost $100 before any of them is right or wrong. The net P&L is the figure to track, and a breakeven trade in a journal is often a small gain that fees turned into a flat result.
Spread and slippage do not appear as a separate line in this calculator. They are already inside your entry and exit prices if you enter the prices you were filled at. If you enter the quoted prices instead, add the spread to the fees.
Return on position versus return on margin
Leverage does not change how many dollars a price move makes or loses. It changes how small a base you measure them against. The same $490 is 9.80% of a $5,000 position and 49.00% of a $1,000 margin.
That works in both directions, and the losing side is the one to read carefully. At 5x, a 20% move against the trade loses the whole margin. The calculator shows the return on margin so you can see that number, and it warns when the loss is bigger than the margin posted, because a broker would normally close the trade before that point. How close to that point you are is a question for the margin and leverage calculator.
Quote the return on margin only when you mean it. A trader who says "I made 49%" after one trade has measured against the margin of that trade, not against the account. The return that matters for your results is the net P&L divided by the account balance, and it is almost always much smaller.
Calculating profit and loss for forex, stocks, crypto and futures
The formula is the same everywhere. What changes is the size and the multiplier.
- Stocks and ETFs. The size is the number of shares and the multiplier is 1.
- Crypto. The size is the number of coins, which can be fractional. The multiplier is 1. If your exchange charges a funding rate on perpetual contracts, add it to the fees.
- Futures. The size is the number of contracts and the multiplier is the point value. An E-mini S&P 500 contract is worth $50 per index point, so a 10 point move on 2 contracts is 10 × 2 × 50 = $1,000 before fees.
- Forex. Enter the units of the base currency as the size, with a multiplier of 1. Half a standard lot is 50,000 units, so a long EUR/USD trade from 1.0850 to 1.0900 makes 0.0050 × 50,000 = 250 in the quote currency, which is USD. If your account is in another currency, convert that amount at the current rate. The pip value calculator does that conversion for you.
Common profit and loss mistakes
- Counting only one side of the fees. Most platforms show the commission per side. The round trip is twice that.
- Using the planned price instead of the fill. A stop that filled 0.30 beyond its level is a bigger loss than the plan said. Enter what actually happened.
- Reading the return on margin as the return on the account. It measures the trade against its own margin, which is a fraction of the balance.
- Mixing currencies. Forex and many futures settle in a currency that may differ from your account. A profit in the quote currency is not yet a profit in yours.
- Forgetting the multiplier. A futures contract sized as if it moved $1 per point understates every result by the point value.
- Treating an open trade's result as final. An unrealised profit can reverse before you close. This calculator treats the exit price as the price you really got.
What the calculator does not know
The calculator takes the prices and the fees you type and does the arithmetic. It does not know your overnight financing or swap, the funding rate on a perpetual contract, dividends, taxes or the conversion between currencies, so add what applies to the fees. It treats the whole position as opened at one price and closed at one price; if you built the position in several steps, find the single entry with the average price calculator first. It also cannot know where your broker would close a leveraged trade. Nothing here is investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate profit and loss on a trade?
Subtract the entry price from the exit price, multiply by the position size and the contract multiplier, and subtract the fees. For a short trade, subtract the exit from the entry instead. With a long trade from 100 to 110 on 50 shares and $10 of fees, that is 10 × 50 − 10 = $490.
What is the formula for profit and loss in trading?
Net P&L equals (exit − entry) × size × multiplier − fees for a long trade, and (entry − exit) × size × multiplier − fees for a short trade. A positive result is a profit and a negative one is a loss. The calculator above applies exactly this formula and shows each part.
How do I calculate profit on a short trade?
A short trade makes money when the price falls, so the price move is the entry minus the exit. Selling at 100 and buying back at 90 with 50 units gives 10 × 50 = $500 before fees. The break-even exit for a short sits below the entry, because the fees have to be covered by the price falling.
What is the break-even price of a trade?
The break-even price is the exit at which the net result is zero. For a long trade it is the entry plus the fees divided by the units and the multiplier. With an entry of 100, 50 units and $10 of fees, it is 100 + 10 ÷ 50 = 100.20.
How do fees change my profit and loss?
Fees reduce every result by the same amount, which matters most on small moves. A trade that gains $5 before a $10 round-trip fee ends as a $5 loss. Over many trades the fees add up to a fixed drag that your average win has to clear.
What is return on margin?
Return on margin is the net profit or loss divided by the margin you posted, not by the whole position. With 5x leverage, a $490 profit on a $5,000 position is 49% of the $1,000 margin. The same leverage multiplies the loss side too, so a 20% adverse move at 5x wipes out the margin.
How do I calculate profit and loss in forex?
Multiply the price move by the number of units of the base currency. The result is in the quote currency, so for EUR/USD it is in dollars. A move from 1.0850 to 1.0900 on 100,000 units is 0.0050 × 100,000 = 500 USD, and you convert that to your account currency if it is different.
How do I calculate profit and loss on futures?
Multiply the points moved by the number of contracts and by the point value, then subtract the fees. An E-mini S&P 500 contract is $50 per point, so a 4 point gain on 3 contracts is 4 × 3 × 50 = $600 before fees. The multiplier field in the calculator is where the point value goes.
Should I track gross or net profit and loss?
Track the net result, because it is what you keep. The gross figure is useful for judging the trade idea, and the fees tell you what trading it costs. A journal that records both lets you see whether your edge survives its own costs.
Does leverage change my profit or loss?
Leverage does not change the amount of money a price move makes or loses on a given position. It lets you open a larger position for the same margin, and that larger position moves your account more. The percentage on margin goes up, and so does the chance of a loss big enough to close the trade.