Futures Profit Calculator

What Is the Futures Profit Calculator?

The Futures Profit Calculator estimates the gross profit or loss on a futures trade. Enter your direction (long or short), entry and exit prices, contract size, number of contracts, and — if your contract uses tick pricing — the tick size and tick value. The tool reports how many ticks the price moved, the price difference, and the gross profit or loss in dollars. It is a quick pre-trade and post-trade check for traders who want to size a position or review a closed trade.

How to Use the Futures Profit Calculator

1. Choose the Direction: Long (buy) or Short (sell).
2. Enter the Entry price and the Exit price.
3. Enter the Contract size (units per contract) and the Number of contracts.
4. If your contract is tick-priced, enter the Tick size (the smallest price move) and the Tick value in dollars. These two fields are optional but make tick-based results possible.
5. Click Process.
6. Read the result: ticks moved, price difference, gross P&L, and return per tick. Use Copy or Download to keep it.

Worked Example

A LONG trade of 2 contracts, entry 5000, exit 5050, tick size 0.25, tick value $12.50:

• Price difference: 5050 − 5000 = +50.0000
• Ticks moved: 50 / 0.25 = 200.00 ticks
• Gross P&L: 200 ticks x $12.50 per tick x 2 contracts = $5,000.00 profit

Result: PROFIT of $5,000.00, with a return per tick of $12.50.

Limitations

• The result is gross profit or loss. It does not subtract commissions, exchange and clearing fees, or slippage. For net P&L, subtract your broker commission x contracts x 2 (entry plus exit) from the gross figure.
• The tool does not calculate margin, leverage, or percentage return — there are no fields for account balance or margin requirement. Use it for P&L only.
• The tick value must match your actual contract. A wrong tick value gives a proportionally wrong P&L, so confirm it against your broker’s contract specifications.
• Prices are whatever you enter; the tool has no live market data and does not know the current price of any contract.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does tick math work?

Ticks moved = price difference / tick size. Gross P&L = ticks moved x tick value x number of contracts. In the worked example: 50 / 0.25 = 200 ticks, and 200 x $12.50 x 2 = $5,000.

What is the difference between gross and net P&L?

Gross P&L is the price-move gain before costs. Net P&L subtracts commissions, fees, and slippage. This tool reports gross P&L; subtract your round-trip commission (commission x contracts x 2) to estimate net P&L.

How do short trades work?

Choose Short (sell). The math flips: you profit when the exit price is below the entry price, and lose when it is above. For example, short at 5050 and exit at 5000 gives the same +$5,000 gross profit as the long example above, in the opposite direction.

Do I have to fill in tick size and tick value?

They are optional. Without them the tool still reports the price difference and gross P&L from contract size and contracts, but it cannot report ticks moved or return per tick.