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Commodity profit calculator

Profit or loss on a gold, oil or other commodity position in your account currency, with the contract size doing the work it always does and nobody checks.

The maths here is trivial and the contract size is not. Gold is priced per ounce and usually contracted in hundreds of them; oil is priced per barrel and contracted in thousands.

Carrying a forex lot size across to a commodity is the most expensive assumption available on a trading platform, and it is made constantly.

Check your broker's specification. These are common conventions, not a standard.

lots

Per ounce, per barrel, whatever the instrument is quoted in.

instrument ccy

Spread and commission, if you want them in the result.

1 if the instrument is quoted in your account currency.

Net profit or loss$200.00
Units exposed
10
Ounces, barrels, whatever the contract counts.
Price move
20
Gross, before costs
200
Notional at entry
$25,000.00
What the position was actually worth. Size from this.

A model, not a quote. Every figure here comes from what a broker publishes or what you type, and real fills, spreads and rates move.

The formula

Units
contract size × number of lots
Gross
price move × units, negated if short
Net
gross − round-turn costs
In account currency
net × instrument-to-account rate

How to use it

  1. Get the contract size right firstEverything else is multiplication. A gold lot of 100 ounces at $2,500 is $250,000 of exposure: more than a standard forex lot on most pairs.
  2. Set the directionA short position gains when the price falls, so the sign of the move is flipped.
  3. Enter entry and exitIn the instrument's own quote: dollars per ounce for gold, dollars per barrel for oil.
  4. Check the notional, not just the profitThe last row is the number the position should have been sized from. If it is larger than you expected, the contract size caught you.

A tenth of a lot of gold

Gold at $2,500, one lot of 100 ounces. Trading 0.10 lots is 10 ounces, so a $20 move is $200.

That sounds modest until you look at the notional: 10 ounces at $2,500 is $25,000 of exposure from a position that reads as 0.10 on the ticket.

The same 0.10 on a forex pair would be a mini lot: 10,000 units, roughly $1 a pip. The ticket looks identical and the exposure is twenty-five times larger.

Contract sizes are broker-defined

The sizes offered above are common conventions rather than a standard. Brokers define their own, and some differ substantially, particularly on oil and silver.

Read the contract specification for the specific instrument at your specific broker before sizing anything from this.

Common questions

Is one lot of gold always 100 ounces?

It is the most common convention and it is not universal. Check the specification. This is the field that produces the largest errors.

Do I own the metal?

Not through a CFD or a futures position you close before delivery. You have exposure to the price.

Why is the notional shown?

Because it is what the position should have been sized from, and because it is routinely much larger than the lot number suggests.

Does this include overnight financing?

No. Commodity positions held overnight accrue financing or roll adjustments depending on the product, and those are separate from the trade result.

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