Products & services
Trading
How to calculate profit and loss
Forex and prices can move quickly, especially during volatile periods. It is important to know how to calculate your potential profit and loss so you can react faster to moving market prices.
The below examples show how you can calculate profit and loss on your trades when you take a position with OANDA.
Note: we apply a holding/duration charge or holding/duration credit for positions you keep open over time. See how financing is charged and paid into your account.
Let’s say you hold an account where the base currency is USD.
Calculating profit
The current rate for EUR/USD is 0.9517/0.9522 (where 0.9517 is the sell price and 0.9522 is the buy price. The spread is 5).
Let’s say you decide to sell 10,000 EUR at 0.9517.
This means you sold 10,000 EUR and bought 9,517.00 USD (10,000 EUR * 0.9517 = 9,517.00 USD).
After you trade, the market rate of EUR/USD decreases to 0.9500/0.9505. You decide to buy back 10,000 EUR at 0.9505 (10,000 EUR * 0.9505 = 9,505.00 USD).
You sold 10,000 EUR for 9,517 USD and bought back 10,000 EUR for 9,505 USD.
Your profit is 12.00 USD (9,517.00 - 9,505.00).
Calculating loss
You see that the current rate for USD/JPY is 115.00/115.05 (where 115.00 is the sell price and 115.05 is the buy price. The spread is 5).
You decide to buy 10,000 USD at 115.05.
This means you bought 10,000 USD and sold 1,150,500 JPY (10,000 USD * 115.05 = 1,150,500 JPY).
The market rate of USD/JPY falls to 114.45/114.50 and you decide to sell back 10,000 USD at 114.45 (10,000 USD * 114.45 = 1,144,500 JPY).
You bought 10,000 USD for 1,150,500 JPY and sold 10,000 USD back for 1,144,500 JPY.
Your loss is calculated as follows: 1,150,500 - 1,144,500 = 6,000 JPY.
Note that your loss is in JPY and must be converted back to dollars.
To calculate this amount in USD:
6,000 JPY / 114.45 = $52.42 USD or
6,000 JPY *1/114.45 = $52.42 USD.
Ready to start trading? Open an account in minutes
Already have a live trading account? It's easy to fund your account using one of the following payment methods.
What are financing fees?
Financing fees can affect your cost of trading, so it's important to understand how financing works.
Globally recognized forex broker
Trade popular cryptos through our user-friendly app, as well as over 70 forex pairs, using a range of trading platforms including OANDA Trade and MT4.
Transparent trading costs
We are upfront about our fees so you know how much you are paying when you trade with us.