Introduction
This futures calculator shows you how much money you can make or lose on a trade before you place it. Pick your contract, type in your entry price, your take profit, and your stop loss, and you get the dollar result for each outcome.
It covers more than 180 futures contracts, including the E-mini S&P 500 (ES), Nasdaq (NQ), crude oil (CL), gold (GC), Treasury bonds (ZB), corn (ZC), and Bitcoin (BTC). Tick size, tick value, and point value fill in on their own, so you don't have to look them up.
The results give you profit and loss in dollars, ticks, and points. You also get your risk/reward ratio, your break-even price, your margin, and a step-by-step breakdown of every number. Add your commission to see real net results, not just gross ones.
There is also a risk matrix. Type in your account size and see how many contracts you can trade at each risk level, from 0.5% up to 10%. That keeps your loss per trade capped and ties your position size to the account.
Use it to plan a trade, test a stop loss, or compare two setups. It is free, and it works for day traders, swing traders, and new traders learning how futures math works.
How to use our Futures Calculator
Pick your futures contract, set your trade direction, and enter your entry, target, and stop prices. The calculator shows your profit, loss, ticks, points, risk/reward ratio, break-even price, and margin.
Filter contracts: Type a name or ticker, like "Gold" or "ES", to find your market faster.
Select Market / Contract: Choose the futures contract you trade. The tick size, tick value, and point value fill in for you.
Trade Direction: Click Long if you expect the price to go up. Click Short if you expect it to go down.
Number of Contracts: Enter how many contracts you plan to trade. Use the plus and minus buttons or the quick chips.
Entry Price: Type the price where you buy or sell. Use the tick buttons to move one tick at a time.
Take Profit: Enter the price where you will close for a gain. You can also tap 1:2 or 1:3 R/R to set it from your stop.
Stop Loss: Enter the price where you will exit to cut your loss. This sets your risk per contract.
Commission per Contract: Enter the round-trip fee for one contract. Put 0 if you want to skip fees.
Account Size: Enter your total trading account in dollars. The risk matrix then shows your max risk and max contracts at each risk percent.
Click Calculate to see your results, the trade ladder, the P&L chart, and the step-by-step math. Click Clear / Reset to start over.
Futures Trading: What This Tool Is About
A futures contract is a deal to buy or sell something at a set price on a future date. That "something" can be an index like the S&P 500, oil, gold, corn, bonds, a currency, or even Bitcoin. Traders rarely want the actual barrels of oil. Most just want to profit from the price moving up or down.
Long and Short
When you go long, you buy first and hope the price goes up. When you go short, you sell first and hope the price goes down. Futures make it just as easy to bet on a falling market as a rising one.
Ticks, Tick Value, and Point Value
Prices in futures move in small steps called ticks. A tick is the smallest price change allowed for that contract. Each tick is worth a set amount of money, called the tick value. For example, the E-mini S&P 500 (ES) moves in ticks of 0.25, and each tick is worth $12.50. So one full point equals four ticks, or $50.
Two formulas cover it:
- Point value = tick value ÷ tick size
- Profit or loss = points moved × point value × number of contracts
Some bond futures do not use decimals. They are quoted in 32nds (and sometimes 64ths or 128ths) of a point. A price like 118'16 means 118 and 16/32.
Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit
Your entry is the price where you open the trade. Your stop loss is the price where you exit to cut a losing trade. Your take profit (or target) is where you exit with a gain. Setting all three before you trade keeps your losses small and planned instead of random.
Risk and Reward
The risk/reward ratio compares what you could lose to what you could make. A 1:2 ratio means you risk $1 to try to make $2. Aim for at least 1:2 and you can still come out ahead even when more than half your trades lose.
Margin and Leverage
Initial margin is the cash your broker holds while the trade is open. It is only a small slice of the full contract value, which is why futures have high leverage. Leverage grows your gains, but it grows your losses just as fast. Margin rates change often, so always check with your broker.
Commissions
Brokers charge a fee each time you open and close a trade. That is the round-trip commission. It is small per contract, but it adds up fast when you trade many contracts or trade often. Always subtract it to see your real net profit and your true break-even price.
Position Sizing
A common rule is to risk only 1% to 2% of your account on a single trade. To find your size, divide your dollar risk limit by the cost of one contract hitting your stop. Smaller micro contracts (like MES, MNQ, MGC, or MCL) let traders with smaller accounts take these steps with less money at risk.
Contract Months
Every futures contract has an expiration month, shown by a letter code. H is March, M is June, U is September, and Z is December. So "ESZ25" means the E-mini S&P 500 contract that expires in December 2025.
Note: Futures trading carries real risk, and you can lose more than you deposit. Prices, margins, and specs shown here are for learning and planning only, not live market data.