What the trade profit calculator does
Before you enter a trade, you can work out exactly what it pays at your target and what it costs at your stop. The calculator takes the instrument, the direction, the size and the two prices, and returns the result in dollars and pips — so you can compare it with your risk plan instead of estimating from the chart.
How to use it
- Pick the instrument and choose Buy (long) or Sell (short).
- Enter the size in lots.
- Enter the open price and the close price: your target to see the potential profit, or your stop to see the potential loss.
- For pairs not quoted in dollars, enter the conversion rate. For USD/JPY, USD/CHF and USD/CAD the close price is used for the conversion automatically.
The formula
price move = (close − open) × direction (+1 buy, −1 sell)
P&L (quote) = price move × lots × contract size
P&L (USD) = P&L (quote) converted at the current rate
pips = price move ÷ pip size
The contract size is 100,000 units for currency pairs, 100 ounces for gold, one coin for BTC and ETH, and the per-point value you enter for indices.
Worked examples
Buy EUR/USD: 1 lot from 1.1600 to 1.1650. The move is +0.0050, or 50 pips. P&L = 0.0050 × 100,000 = +$500.
Sell gold: 0.50 lots from 4,000.0 to 3,985.0. The move in your favour is 15.0, or 150 pips. P&L = 15.0 × 100 oz × 0.50 = +$750. Had gold risen to 4,008.0 instead, the same position would have lost 8.0 × 50 = $400.
Buy USD/JPY: 1 lot from 150.00 to 150.80. The move is 80 pips, worth ¥80,000; converted at 150.80 that is about +$530.50.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring trading costs. The result is gross. Spread, commission and overnight swap reduce it, sometimes noticeably on short-term trades.
- Using chart prices for fills. Longs open at the ask and close at the bid; shorts do the opposite. Your fills will differ slightly from the mid or bid prices on a chart.
- Confusing direction. On a short, a falling price is a profit. Make sure the toggle matches the trade.
- Assuming one contract size. Index and crypto contracts differ between brokers; a wrong size multiplies the error on every trade.
- Planning only the upside. Run the calculator with your stop as the close price too. If the loss makes you uncomfortable, reduce the size with the position size calculator.