Finance & trading
How do you calculate profit and loss on a trade?
P&L and percentage change of a long or short trade.
Quick answer
Long P/L = (exit price − entry price) × quantity. Buy 10 units at €100, sell at €112: (112 − 100) × 10 = €120 profit (+12%). Short P/L reverses the price difference: (entry − exit) × quantity.
Profit / loss
20.00
- Change
- 12 %
How it works
This is gross P/L before commissions, spreads, slippage and taxes. A €120 gain on €1,000 deployed is 12% return on capital at risk — not the same as 12% annualised unless the trade lasted one year. Log fills immediately; memory rewrites winners and forgets fees.
Discretionary traders review charts on a dedicated trading monitor — laptop screens hide wicks you need for honest stop placement. Study risk-reward and pattern context in a technical analysis book before sizing up. General guidance only — trading involves substantial risk of loss; past P/L does not predict future results and this is not investment advice.
Gains and losses are not symmetric, and the percentage in the result hides it. A position down fifty per cent needs a hundred per cent gain just to return to where it started; down twenty needs twenty-five; down ten needs eleven. The deeper the hole the worse the exchange rate gets, which is the arithmetic reason that limiting the size of losses does more for a balance than improving the hit rate does. When you log a trade, record the percentage needed to recover as well as the percentage lost — the two columns tell very different stories about the same day.
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Frequently asked questions
Long vs short — when to use each?+
Long profits when price rises — standard investing. Short profits when price falls — common in futures, CFDs and some stocks. Shorts have unlimited theoretical loss if price keeps rising; know borrow costs and margin rules before opening.
Should I include fees in P/L?+
Yes for real results. A €120 gross profit minus €20 round-trip fees is €100 net — 10% not 12%. Always subtract broker commission, spread on entry and exit, and overnight financing on leveraged products.
P/L in points vs money?+
Futures and forex often quote P/L in points or pips; multiply by contract size or lot size for currency. This calculator works in price units × quantity — enter your actual fill prices, not mid quotes from a chart.
Average entry with multiple buys?+
Weighted average entry = total cost ÷ total units. Bought 5 at €100 and 5 at €105: average €102.50. Use that as entry price for P/L when you sell the full position — partial sells need FIFO or average-cost method per your broker.
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