Forex Profit Calculator
Calculate the profit or loss on a forex trade in pips, in the quote currency and in your account currency.
The profit on a forex trade is the price movement multiplied by the position size, converted into your account currency. What a forex profit calculator has to reconcile is that the movement is measured in pips, the profit arises in the quote currency, and your account may be denominated in a third currency entirely.
Formula: P/L = price move × units × quote-to-account rate
Your figures
Choose Custom to enter your broker's own pip size and contract size.
Rate to convert the pair's quote currency into your account currency. Enter 1 if they are the same.
Price increment of one pip. Only used when Instrument is Custom.
Units of the base asset in one lot. Only used when Instrument is Custom.
Results
Profit
+US$500.00
+50.0 pips
- Result in USD (quote currency)
- +500.00
- Pips gained or lost
- +50.0
- Value of one pip
- US$10.00
- Units of base currency
- 100,000
- Return on notional valueMeasured against the full position value, not the margin posted.
- +0.455%
What this means
A 50.0-pip move in favour of this EUR/USD position produces +US$500.00 before costs. Because the position is leveraged, the return on the margin posted is far larger than the 0.455% move in the underlying.
- Excludes spread, commission and overnight swap. All three reduce the realised result.
Profit: +US$500.00
The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Continue with these figures
About the Forex Profit calculation
This forex profit and loss calculator handles all three steps. Enter the pair, direction, size and the entry and exit prices, and it returns the PnL in pips, in the quote currency and in your account currency.
It works for both closed trades and hypothetical ones — entering a prospective exit price turns a forex pip profit into money before you commit to the trade.
Forex Profit formula
units = lots × 100,000
price move = long ? (exit − entry) : (entry − exit)
pips = price move ÷ pip size
P/L (quote currency) = price move × units
P/L (account currency) = P/L (quote) × quote-to-account rate- long
- A buy position, which profits when the price rises.
- short
- A sell position, which profits when the price falls.
- pip size
- 0.0001 for most pairs; 0.01 for JPY-quoted pairs.
The direction only flips the sign of the price move. A short position profits from a fall, so the subtraction runs the other way; everything after that is identical.
Multiplying the raw price move by the number of units, rather than converting to pips first, avoids a rounding step. The pip figure is derived afterwards for display.
The final conversion is the only place your account currency enters the calculation. Until then the profit exists entirely in the quote currency.
Forex Profit: a worked example
A long position of one standard lot in EUR/USD, entered at 1.1000 and closed at 1.1050, held in a sterling-denominated account — a third currency to the pair — with the dollar worth 0.79 pounds.
- Units1 × 100,000 = 100,000
- Price move1.1050 − 1.1000 = 0.0050
- Pips0.0050 ÷ 0.0001 = 50 pips
- P/L in USD0.0050 × 100,000 = $500
- P/L in GBP$500 × 0.79 = £395
A 50-pip gain of $500 in the quote currency, worth £395 once converted into the sterling account, before spread, commission and any overnight financing.
How to use the Forex Profit calculator
- Select the pair and whether the position was long or short.
- Enter the position size in lots. For 20,000 units, enter 0.20.
- Enter the entry and exit prices at full quote precision.
- Set the quote-to-account conversion rate, or leave it at 1 if they match.
- Read the result in pips and in both currencies. A negative figure is a loss.
Limitations of the Forex Profit calculator
Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.
- Excludes spread, which is charged at entry and effectively narrows every result.
- Excludes commission, which some brokers charge per lot instead of widening the spread.
- Excludes overnight swap, which can be positive or negative depending on the interest rate differential and the direction held.
- Assumes the whole position opened and closed at single prices, rather than being filled in parts.
Frequently asked questions about Forex Profit
Why does my broker's FX PnL differ slightly from this calculator?
Usually the spread. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, so the round trip costs the spread even when the mid-price is unchanged. Commission and overnight swap account for most of the rest.
How do I calculate profit on a short position?
Select 'short' and enter the prices as they happened. The calculator reverses the subtraction, so selling at 1.1050 and buying back at 1.1000 shows a 50-pip gain.
What return does this represent?
The result states the currency trade profit as a return on the full notional value of the position. Because forex is traded on margin, the return relative to the margin actually posted is much larger — and losses scale the same way.
Can I use this for partial closes?
Calculate each part separately with its own size and exit price, then add the results. The calculator handles one exit price at a time.
Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.
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