Gold Futures Profit Calculator
Calculate entered gross and net gold-futures profit or loss from direction, whole contracts, contract ounces, tick size, entry, exit and round-turn cost. The page uses no live quote, account connection or margin estimate.
Enter the gold futures contract and price path
Choose an educational preset or enter the exact contract size and minimum price increment supplied by your exchange and broker. Presets are editable and are not live specifications.
Entered gold futures result
Entered Metals Futures Contract Math 1.0.0
| Calculation step | Entered arithmetic | Derived result |
|---|
How gold futures profit and loss is calculated
Signed price movement = (exit price − entry price) × direction factor
Gross P/L = signed price movement × ounces per contract × contracts
Net entered P/L = gross P/L − entered round-turn cost per contract × contracts
A futures quotation is expressed per underlying unit, while one contract controls a standardized quantity. CME Group identifies the benchmark Gold contract as 100 troy ounces, Micro Gold as 10 troy ounces and 1-Ounce Gold as one troy ounce. Contract size turns a quoted price change into a much larger or smaller monetary change.
Tick value is derived rather than guessed: multiply the minimum price increment by the contract quantity. Under the cited examples, a 0.10 price tick on 10-ounce MGC is USD 1 per contract, while the same 0.10 increment on 100-ounce GC is USD 10. The 1OZ example uses a 0.25 increment and USD 0.25 tick value.
Long positions receive a positive signed movement when exit exceeds entry; short positions receive a positive signed movement when exit is below entry. The model subtracts only the round-turn amount entered for each contract. It does not infer exchange, clearing, brokerage, market-data, spread, slippage or delivery costs.
A careful gold futures P/L workflow
Treat the contract specification as evidence, not as a remembered constant.
- Identify the exact futures symbol and contract month; do not transfer CFD lot sizes into futures math.
- Verify contract troy ounces and minimum price increment on the current exchange specification.
- Confirm whether the entered prices are executions, settlements or hypothetical scenario prices.
- Choose long or short, then enter only whole contracts because this model does not create fractional exchange contracts.
- Enter an independently verified all-in round-turn cost per contract or zero when reviewing gross arithmetic only.
- Compare the result with the broker statement and investigate any difference in fills, fees, mark-to-market or contract terms.
Audited worked example
Two Micro Gold examples use 10 troy ounces per contract and a USD 0.10 minimum price increment. A long entered at USD 2,400 and exited at USD 2,412.50 moves USD 12.50 per ounce, or 125 ticks. Gross P/L is USD 12.50 × 10 × 2 = USD 250. Entered round-turn costs of USD 5 per contract total USD 10, leaving USD 240 net entered P/L.
How to interpret it
USD 240 is the deterministic net result of the fixture, not expected income or an account statement. A broker may use different charges or reject the contract, and actual fills can differ from the entered prices. Verify the precise symbol, delivery month, contract size, tick, trading permissions and cost schedule before using the result.
Futures contracts, spot CFDs and physical bullion use different units
These three product types can reference the same metal price while producing different monetary arithmetic. An exchange futures contract uses a standardized contract quantity and minimum price increment. An XAUUSD or XAGUSD CFD uses the broker’s lot and contract specification. Physical bullion uses owned fine-metal quantity plus premiums and sale costs.
| Product type | Sizing unit | Primary multiplier | Separate evidence needed | Use this family? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange futures | Whole contracts | Exchange units per contract | Symbol, month, tick, fees, margin and delivery/settlement | Yes |
| Spot or CFD metal | Broker lots | Broker ounces per lot | Server symbol, lot step, margin mode, spread and financing | No—use XAUUSD/XAGUSD tools |
| Physical bullion | Fine troy ounces | Owned metal content | Fineness, premium, custody and buy-back terms | No—use bullion tools |
Never copy a 100-ounce futures multiplier into a broker CFD merely because both reference gold. Verify the exact product before using any result.
Assumptions and limits
- No live, delayed or settlement price is retrieved or timestamped.
- The educational presets are editable examples and are not a contract-specification service.
- The model does not enforce whether entered prices lie on the exchange tick grid.
- Margin, maintenance requirements, daily variation, liquidation and delivery obligations are outside the model.
- Spread, slippage, exchange, clearing, regulatory, data and tax costs are excluded unless compressed into the one entered cost.
- The result is not a fill guarantee, account statement, price target, profit forecast, recommendation or financial advice.
Where to verify futures inputs
Start with the current exchange product page and rulebook for the exact symbol and contract month. Confirm contract quantity, quotation unit, minimum outright price increment, settlement type and termination date. Then compare the broker’s enabled symbols, commission and fee schedule, margin requirement and account permissions. Exchange margin and broker-required margin can differ and can change.
Record whether prices are actual fills, daily settlements or hypothetical scenario values. Actual account P/L can include daily mark-to-market, spread, slippage, exchange and clearing charges, brokerage commission, market-data costs, currency effects and tax. The single cost field is deliberately visible so omissions are not disguised as a universal net result.
The CFTC describes commodity futures as volatile, complex and risky, and notes that customers can lose all their money and may owe more than their initial investment. That is why these pages keep notional, modeled stop loss, margin and account outcome conceptually separate.
Frequently asked questions
- Multiply the direction-adjusted price movement by entered troy ounces per contract and whole contracts, then subtract the entered round-turn cost per contract.
- Multiply the entered minimum price increment by entered troy ounces per contract. A 0.10 increment on a 10-ounce contract equals USD 1 per tick.
- The cited CME examples use 100 troy ounces for GC, 10 for MGC and one for 1OZ. Verify the exact current product specification before calculating.
- Yes. Short arithmetic treats an exit below entry as positive movement and an exit above entry as negative movement.
- No. It subtracts only the nonnegative round-turn cost entered per contract. Unentered exchange, clearing, brokerage, spread, slippage, data and tax costs remain excluded.
- No. Entered notional is price times units per contract times contracts. Margin and a planned stop loss are separate quantities.
- No. Entry, exit and contract fields are manual inputs. The page retrieves no quote, settlement or account data.
- No. It is deterministic arithmetic on entered values, not a future price estimate, fill guarantee, account statement or recommendation.
Sources and methodology
- CME Group — Calculating Futures Contract Profit or Loss — Explains tick value, tick movement and whole-position P/L arithmetic.
- CME Group — About Contract Notional Value — Defines contract unit × futures price as notional value.
- CME Group — Gold Product Overview — Identifies cited 100-ounce GC and 10-ounce MGC examples and their tick values.
- CME Group — 1-Ounce Gold Futures Fact Card — Identifies the one-troy-ounce quantity and USD 0.25 tick example.
- CME Group — Silver Futures and Options Fact Card — Identifies the cited SI 5,000-ounce contract and USD 0.005 outright increment.
- CFTC — Futures Market Basics — Regulator explanation of futures contracts and retail risk.
The operational contract is Entered Metals Futures Contract Math version 1.0.0. Independent fixtures cover long gold, short silver, fixed and percentage risk, tick identities, whole-contract flooring, below-one-contract capacity and invalid inputs. Sources support method and example specifications; they do not endorse this site, verify user inputs or turn the output into an exchange record.
Continue the contract-planning workflow
Compare broker metal products separately
The brokers below primarily offer leveraged forex or CFD products rather than the COMEX futures examples used in this calculator. If you compare a broker’s XAUUSD or XAGUSD product, use the broker’s own contract size, lot step, tick, margin, spread, commission and financing terms; do not reuse an exchange-futures preset.
Risk and affiliate disclosure: Futures, leveraged forex and CFD trading can result in substantial losses. These are affiliate links, so ForexMT4Indicators.com may receive compensation if you register or trade through them, at no additional cost to you. Availability and terms vary by jurisdiction and entity.