Forex Profit and Loss Calculator (GBP)

How entry and exit set the result

Entry and exit set the pip move, and the pip move times pip value determines the profit or loss: on the example trade, 40 pips at £3.70 a pip equals £147.98. Select the pair and direction, enter entry and exit prices, the lot size, and the account currency. The calculator then shows the move in pips and its value in pounds (or dollars or euros), labelled as profit or loss. Prices can be hypothetical or historical: enter a planned entry against a target, then against a stop, and the tool displays both the gain and the loss before any trade is taken. I find this especially useful for checking reward-to-risk ratios before committing capital.

Used that way, the calculator turns a chart level into a reward-to-risk ratio in money. A target worth £147.98 against a stop risking half that is a 2:1 trade whatever the pair. I prefer comparing money outcomes across pairs rather than pip counts, because pip values differ by pair and account currency.

The profit and loss formula

P/L = pip move x pip value, where the move is (exit - entry) / pip size for a buy and (entry - exit) / pip size for a sell. Pip size and the quote-to-account conversion are the pip value calculator's half of the sum, including the JPY convention and the per-pair figures; this page supplies the move and multiplies the two.

The conversion step is where GBP-account results differ from the dollar figures most calculators assume. A US$200 win is not £200; at the current rate it is £147.98. I'd always check the GBP equivalent rather than take a dollar number at face value. Our team maintains the exchange rates shown, so the conversion is always current.

What the result deliberately excludes

The figure is price P/L only. It excludes three costs:

• The spread crossed at entry and any per-lot commission. Both are measurable. On the worked trade above, the cost is a stated-hypothetical example: suppose a 1.0 pip spread on the 0.50 lots of GBP/USD trade. That spread, plus any per-lot commission, is a real cost the 40 pip gross win excludes.
• Overnight financing, left out because it varies by broker, direction and day of the week (most firms charge one day at triple rate to cover weekend settlement), so any single assumed figure would be invented. Your broker's published financing schedule is the only honest input for held positions.

This page draws the exclusion line at a single trade. Our broker cost calculator draws the same line at monthly aggregate, and the lowest commission broker guide breaks down the per-lot charges behind it.

Where sizing is decided instead

This calculator prices a position you have already sized; choosing that size is the position size calculator's job, which works back from your risk percentage and stop distance. Our CFD trading examples run the same maths through a full long and a short trade, and our drawdown guide shows how consecutive losses compound.